Laslow the Unlikely
by PrincessPeace15
Summary: Girl escapes corporate job to a small valley town to find true love. What will happen? (Completely a self-insert for sake of simplicity, so if that's not your thing... welp.)(Also, rated T for language and possible adult themes. When I say language, I mean language, like, RIGHT off the bat.)
1. Chapter 1

The memory came at a damn good time.

All of my days were shit, but this one was especially shitty. The same shit happened constantly, but some days, it made me feel shittier than others.

The memory was like a sudden flush of that toilet in my brain.

Hadn't I gotten something from my grandfather? Something about a cottage or something in another town?

What happened is that I sat in my cubicle, typing away as usual, when out of nowhere, it dawned on me that that envelope was a thing. How long had it been? I had no idea for so long that thing existed!

Like a wanderer stranded in the desert thinking they saw a city in the distance… I frantically whipped open my drawers in search of that envelope. I knew I'd kept it here somewhere, but that's all I knew. Of course, there were lots of freakin' envelopes; I was in a freakin' office job, doing office things. I lost a bit more hope each time I saw some corporate address or something on each envelope.

Finally, in the final drawer I searched, there was a plain white envelope sealed with purple wax. Without a second thought, I tore it open and read what was within. A letter, to start.

"Dear Rachael," it read. "If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change. The same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life… real connections with other people and nature. So I dropped everything and moved to the place I truly belong. I've enclosed the deed to that place… my pride and joy: Cyan Farm. It's located in Stardew Valley, on the southern coast. It's the perfect place to start your new life."

This wasn't happening. I lowered the letter and stared into space to give my mind a quick moment to figure this shit out. A… new place? That would've changed _literally_ everything, so it couldn't have been possible. Either that, or it was an option, but it would've involved so many tedious steps and so many unresponsive people that nothing would ever come of it. Just like every good option that came before it. Realizing this, I returned to reality and continued reading.

"This was my most precious gift of all," it read. "And now, it's yours. I know you'll honor the family name, my dear. Good luck. Love, Grandpa."

Wait. If the deed was here, was everything else taken care of? Was the mortgage all paid? Did I still have to pay for utilities?

I quickly peeked behind the letter to see something that did in…deed (heh) look like a deed.

…Those concerns would have to wait, I decided. Finally, some light had been let into my life, and I had to pursue it with everything I had.

Right before I closed the envelope, I noticed that in the mental frenzy I was going through, I had completely forgotten to read a whole page of the letter. Maybe that would provide some answers! So I turned to it.

"P.S.," it said. "If Lewis is still alive say hi to the old guy for me, will ya?"

Well, that was great help.

I'd be sure to honor the request, though. I was getting the fuck out of this gray metal enclosure called an office, out of that box I called an apartment, and out of this city I called a "home."

…"Real connections with other people," said Grandpa. That's perhaps what drove me the most to take the leap.

* * *

 **Author's note: If you know me as a fanfic writer, you'll know that in the past, I had always updated fanfics on a weekly basis. Well, uh… no more for now. For reasons related to my productivity, I'm going to be doing things differently for a bit; I'll constantly be working on writing this fanfic, almost like I would work on a novel, and post chapters as I finish them.**

 **I'd also like to note that a few details will differ from what's canon. Not cool with that? This isn't the place for you.**

 **Author's warning: It's perfectly possible I'll lose all motivation or something, or something in my mind will change, and I'll quit this entirely. It's happened way too many times before, as you probably know, and I DEARLY hope it doesn't happen again. But you know… I have faith this time. I really do. Just wanted to make sure y'all were aware of the chance.**


	2. Chapter 2

Within a few days, I alone was standing before my new farmhouse and surveying it.

How did I get here, I wondered? It's crazy how you'd never know if someday, you'd be standing in front of what wasn't an apartment, but a full-ass _house_ of your own.

I literally stood there for a good minute and set my life out in front of my mind's eye. So… I was a kid in a fairly normal household. I went to K-12 school for a good fourteen years (if you count preschool), where I didn't make any friends, but graduated with a golden sash and multicolored cords draped around my neck. I went to college for a couple of years, then found myself burying my face in my pillow in the midst of a crisis of the "This isn't going to make me genuinely happy" variety. So I saved up a bit, applied for a bunch of office jobs, got one with Joja somehow, dropped out of school, and got the best apartment I could find in the city where I'd be working. I was there for a good few years, earning and spending money to keep myself alive and mildly entertained while I, like a dumbass, expected my next step in life in the form of an epiphany. But you see, epiphanies know you're looking for them and refuse to show. So it never did.

And now, I owned a farmhouse.

Through some course of events, I had a house and a HUGE plot of property. I could argue this plot of land, which was _all mine_ , was as big as the downtown area itself, which I'd caught a glimpse of before being led here. It was so amazing, the question of how I'd gotten here was as difficult as an algebra problem, and perhaps took just as long to answer.

I went inside and did the same thing. The interior reminded me a lot of the cottage I once went to every summer growing up. It was by a lake. Not a huge lake, but a sizeable body of water. Later on, I decided I wanted to live in one of those someday.

Welp, minus the sizeable body of water (that pond outside was laughable), I was standing within that wish come to fruition.

I scrolled on my phone for a bit, then went to sleep in the comfiest bed I think I'd ever encountered.

When I woke up the next day, I eventually stepped outside and wondered what I was going to do with all this land. I mean, everyone expected me to make this a farm, right? This was a place called Cyan _Farm_ , right?

As someone who'd only lived in a suburban house, three different dorm rooms, and an apartment right in the middle of a huge city… as a born-and-raised city girl… I was lost.

…Well, the one thing I knew immediately is that if this was going to be a farm, some of these trees… okay, most of these trees had to go. There seemed to be a few odds and ends around the house. Maybe there was an axe or something in there.

I went inside and dug around a bit, and sure enough, there one was.

Thank goodness I remembered the one time I saw my granddad chop down an old tree. (Insert higher power here) forbid I go into town and have "How do you chop down a tree?" be the first thing I say to someone ever, possibly even my soulmate. Well, then again, that would have been a cute detail in our love story. You know, "We met because she couldn't handle an axe." But social anxiety deemed the question a cause of death, and that's what was really important.

Not really much to report but that I chopped trees, later discovered that I also had a boulder problem, found a pickaxe in the house, and did stuff until I suddenly blacked out of exhaustion. No big deal.

…Okay, it freaked me out when I woke up in my own bed knowing fully well I did not start the sleep process there.

It made me want to hide under a boulder when I found a letter in my mailbox the next morning saying someone had found me out here, a fucking medical team was dispatched, and that I was billed. Everything I had arrived here with.

And it made me want to _kick_ a boulder seeing I'd only tackled, like, a corner of my property.

And trees were already starting to grow back.


	3. Chapter 3

So… crops equal money, right? I don't think I'd put one thing in that weird wooden money-making box yet. That was my next step, then, 'cause I was never going to win the battle against those stupid trees.

Downtown was probably the place to go no matter what, so I headed for there.

And to be honest, thanks to my uncanny ability to be dramatic, my heart was racing along the way. I mean, what if today would be the day I met my spouse? What sort of heart-throbbing romance would await me?

…Or friendship? Yeah, friendship! What sort of riveting conversation would spark an instant connection? Would I meet someone, and we would both be like "You're my best friend now."? I'd always heard legends of that sort of occurrence and had dreamt about it for years.

As I pretty much suspected, there were several people moving around and going about their days. There was a purple-haired lady walking out of what appeared to be a Pierre's General Store; that's probably where I wanted to start. There was a yellow-haired dude some yards away playing some sort of handheld game, while a black-haired dude watched; one of them was probably going to end up being my best shot at true love. Already, so many thoughts showing up in my mind.

I headed into the general store and bought some seeds, simple as that. The guy running the store, Pierre, seemed nice enough. He helped the town give me a good vibe right off the bat; even if I made nary an acquaintance here, this place still had an overall feeling of camaraderie going for it, and that was already an enormous help to me.

I went home, went inside and located the hoe, and got those seeds planted. I'd bought a bit of a variety. I'd never heard of a parsnip before, so I wondered what that was going to look like. Tulips would probably make good cash, as would this flower called a "blue jazz." They seemed to grow pretty quickly, too. Huh. Maybe making a living here would be a cinch!

But what to do now? Introduce myself to everyone? Like an extrovert?

HA.

…Maybe exploration was more my style. I started with downtown, because quite frankly, all the trees and shit scared me.

It was then that I learned there was a medical clinic right next to the general store. It scared me a bit that this was all there was for healthcare in this town. Being raised in ANYWHERE but the countryside, I was completely used to being raised in cities with big hospitals, so this was new.

And then, there was a saloon. A saloon was a bar, though, right? And what was I, 20?

"What are you starin' for?" asked an older woman with bushy yellow hair, as I stood, staring at the building, trying to get it to tell me if I was old enough to enter.

In reply, I simply asked. "Is this a 21+ establishment?"

"Nah," the woman told me. "Gus… good man… he sells food, too. There's also arcade games and pool in there. Knock yourself out."

I was in there in mere seconds, playing Junimo Kart. And I. Was. _Addicted._ It might have been the physics of it all, but making that little apple creature's minecart jump over gaps and hearing metal clank in a certain way was extremely satisfying.

You know what wasn't, though? Losing. Starting _all over from the beginning of the GAME._

…Oh, and also discovering I had someone looking over my shoulder the whole time. In retrospect, though, this was real cool, but… i-it was like… ah, I don't have a good simile, but it didn't feel great at first. It was the purple-haired girl I'd seen before.

Once she saw me, she panicked a bit.

"I-I'm sorry," she said. "I-I was bored, and you were doing real good."

It was here that I went from "doesn't feel good" to "feels amazing" and replied "No no no, it's perfectly alright!"

I then noticed that the possible soul- *ahem* the yellow-haired dude and the black-haired dude were playing pool at the billiards table right by us.

"I don't think I've seen Sam win once," the girl told me. "He's… not that great at pool, but insists he'll beat Sebastian one day."

I gave a little "Hm" and nodded, then watched the two boys play. The girl joined me.

At that point, there were literally only bold balls on the table (I smell a sex joke here, but that's not important). I noticed after a bit that the black-haired dude was literally only going for the 8 ball, and the yellow-haired dude was going for every other ball. The closest he got to sinking one was when he almost sank the 8 ball. And that is how I learned who Sam and Sebastian were.

Being the stupid romantic I was, I studied them both closely. Sebastian was definitely the more quiet, collected one, while Sam definitely said more and seemed more upbeat. Sebastian looked to be the better candidate out of these two, so eventually, I focused more on him. And, I mean, he said words… just not as many, and not as boldly. They were cool and calculated, more… not dramatic, but… ah, I dunno the word. So far, he seemed real cool.

Pretty quickly, the 8 ball was sunk, and Sebastian won what I presumed to be the umpteenth game.

"One day," said Sam, starting to gather the balls from the pockets. "One day, you're going down!"

"Yeah," said Sebastian. "The day it rains Junimos."

They both started gathering the balls and putting them back in their case. It seemed pretty clear that they were done for the day.

I noticed I felt a bit heavy and checked my watch. Night. They were done for the night. It was freakin' midnight. I could feel it, I was going to pass out on the ground again if I didn't get back home quickly, and I sure as fuck could not afford that again.

Almost in a whisper, I told the purple-haired girl "It was, uh, nice to meet you. Have a good night." I then took off. I didn't really get to see the expression on her face, I was so determined to get home.

I was a certain distance away from the saloon, though, before what sounded like Sam's voice shouted "Hey!"

For a second, I disregarded it. Then, I realized I could have forgotten something, stopped, and turned around. All I saw was Sam standing by the door, looking at me.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," he told me.

"What?" I asked.

Sam flinched a bit before replying "Er… never mind."

He didn't move. I looked at my watch again. 12:20.

"Hey, listen, I really gotta go," I said. "I'm gonna pass out, I can feel it. Last time I passed out on the ground, some medical team brought me inside and billed me for it. I can't afford that again."

"That sucks," said Sam. "…Hey, could I at least get your name?"

"It's Rachael," I said. "Did I pick this up correctly? You're Sam, right?"

"Yup!" said Sam.

"Cool," I said, turning back toward home. "I'll see you around!" I waved and set off.

Thankfully, I got to bed before I could crash. I looked at my watch again, and it was 1am. Alright, so 1am was fine.

That was the first mystery, and the only one I was thinking of at the time. How far, time-wise, could I go each day?

The second, which I didn't realize until I was prepping myself for the day the next morning, was what the _fuck_ Sam meant by "I'm glad you're okay." Did he see me pass out somehow?! Ah, geez… that's what I needed. People looking at my unconscious body.

* * *

 **Author's note: So, regarding when I said "A few details will be different from what's canon." …I should elaborate.**

 **In fanfics past, I adhered to the book** _ **verbatim.**_ **Telephone calls, notes, interactions… I relayed them word for word. I won't be doing that this time around, possibly ever again. I know this is not how the farmer and Sam meet, but it's the way** _ **this**_ **farmer and Sam first met formally. I… don't even know if this sort of thing actually bothers anyone, but I could imagine why it would. I don't even know if you've got what I'm on about. If not, don't mind me.**


	4. Chapter 4

So all the seeds I'd planted were still pretty immature. And I was _broke_.

Yeah, I'd picked up a bunch of stuff when I went on that tree-chopping spree, but it was mostly wood and junk, which I didn't want to sell either because I figured I'd need it later or because Mayor Lewis would wonder what I was smoking if I thought it could sell. Sap and seeds weren't going to help me acquire the funding for if I crashed outside again. I needed a more effective method.

Maybe some more exploration was in order.

Still being sort of new here, I was scared to go anywhere that didn't look anything like modern civilization, for fear of getting completely lost. That excluded the paths that went both north and south of my property. That only left downtown, so I went there once again.

I looked to my right to notice that there was a beach. There was a beach, and I hadn't even noticed it. Well, hello, first destination of the day.

When I got down there, I saw what would make a huge spark in my mind.

To start, there was a long-haired man staring out at the water. That in itself was a bit jarring; I mean, this guy had long, flowy, prince-esque hair. To boot, he also wore a long red tailcoat and green pants, almost as if he was going to a ball or something. There was a _purpose_ to this man's aesthetic. Basically, 10-year-old me would have absolutely fallen to her knees. 20-year-old me, though, wasn't quite having it. I wonder if 30-year-old me will absolutely hate the man, by this pattern.

I also spotted Sebastian at the end of a pier, also staring out at the water.

Smoking.

With all due respect (I mean, it's highly addictive, and quitting can be extremely difficult)… I could not date a smoker. At least not a smoker of cigars and/or cigarettes. My mother smoked all the time, so I believed I'd already inhaled enough secondhand smoke for one lifetime. Those little death sticks didn't make me feel great mentally as a result. I couldn't assume "I could change him", either, so the smoking probably wouldn't come to an end anytime soon.

No, while Sebastian and the long-hair were surprising to see, what made my mind spark had nothing to do with romance.

An older man was fishing off another pier. Right near what looked to be a bait shop of some sort.

 _I could get that bread I needed through fish._ It was something that had never occurred to me!

I approached the little shack and looked around at the front. The one sign outside said "Fish." So I was a bit off, but the general idea still stood.

Slowly, I walked up to the door. I tried to open it quietly, as not to disturb the fisherman behind me. It was locked. I looked to the fisherman again and made the connection that more than likely, he ran the shop and wasn't open right now.

I went to walk away, but he then spoke to me.

"And who would you be?" he asked, looking up at me. "…Say, are you the new farmer everyone's on about?"

"That would… probably be me," I said with a nervous laugh.

"Call me Willy," said Willy, the fisherman. "And you?"

"Rachael," I said.

"You wantin' to get into fishing?" asked Willy. "I'm real glad to see it. You don't see people fishing often enough anymore. It's real underappreciated."

He then paused for a moment, as if in thought. He then reeled in his line and stood up.

"Hold on a sec," he said.

He then proceeded to walk to the door, unlock it, and go inside.

While he was in there, I took a look at Willy's gear and felt a bit of nostalgia. Basically, it was for those childhood days at that summer cottage I mentioned before, hookin' worms and reeling in nothing but bluegills (and a catfish one time). The way fish would suddenly start thrashing around, combined with their sharp fins, made me scared to ever hold them, so I always had an adult unhook them and throw them back. By the time I ever thought to wear gloves to combat this fear, I was too old to fish without a license. And yeah, boat cops could occasionally be seen on that lake.

License. Yeah, I needed to remember to ask Willy about that when he came out. Which happened to be the very moment I thought about it.

He came out holding what looked to be a bamboo (or some other wood) fishing pole. He… wasn't going to…

"Here," he said, holding the pole out to me. "That should get ya started."

"How much do you want for it?" I immediately asked.

"Not a thing," he replied, picking his own fishing pole back up. "Seein' a new person take on the art of fishing is enough payment for me."

"Cool," I said. "Thank you so very much!"

"Give it a cast, right here," said Willy. "…Well, go ahead!"

"Before I do, I meant to ask," I said. "Do I need to get a license to fish?"

"Not here, you don't," said Willy. "In the city, probably, but here, you're free to do what you please."

"Awesome," I smiled.

It took a bit, because it had been years since I'd last fished, after all… but in a minute or so, I'd made the cast pretty far out.

"Wonderful job!" said Willy.

"And now, we wait," I said.

And I waited for maybe ten or so seconds before I felt a tug. So much for sitting and thinking about things, I guess.

When I reeled it in, though… it was seaweed. While I looked at it in disappointment, Willy laughed.

"Don't let that get your hopes down," he advised me. "I've been doing this for years, and seaweed always rears its ugly leaves at me, too."

And that's how I got into fishing. I was so super excited the first time I caught an actual fish, a sardine. It seemed as if as soon as I started thinking about something, there was a bite. Never a dull moment.

I think I was even more excited, though, to head home that night and put all the fish I'd caught in the sale box. I mean, I was seeing gold upon gold coming up on my line today.

The next morning, I nearly choked on my own breath to find that I'd made close to 4000G.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, there was a peaceful rain falling.

Well, I thought it was peaceful. Probably didn't come across that way to the soaking cat sitting outside my door. I suppose you never know what could happen in Stardew Valley; one day, there could be a soaking cat sitting at your doorstep.

The poor thing looked up at me and emitted something that wasn't quite a wail, but was too strong to be a mere meow. Hesitantly, I bent down and looked at it. It didn't look hostile. It looked very much in its right mind.

Didn't appear to have a collar. Its hair was also pretty matted in places. That, I think, gave away to me that this kitty was a stray.

So I reached out to pick it up. It had nary a protest. It actually relaxed a bit in my arms.

…What gender was this cat? That was pretty important. The thing was I'd never investigated a cat's privates before, and was honestly a bit afraid to do so.

I lifted the cat and looked at its belly. Didn't seem to have nipples, so maybe it was a boy, but I still couldn't be sure.

Until I looked down a bit further and saw what did very much appear to be a… uh… Well, I was holding a tomcat. There ya go.

I thought about neutering for a few seconds. I mean, I'd heard _horrendous_ stories regarding fertile toms, and didn't really feel like cleaning tomcat stank off my furniture. Maybe I'd have to head back into the city one final time to get him fixed.

Soon enough, I shit you not, he started purring.

One thing was definitely for sure. After he specifically waited out in the rain at _my_ door, and relaxed upon my holding him… I mean, unless someone else came forward… this cat was mine. He found _me_ , and for that, I wasn't going to let him down.

As I wrapped him up in a towel, I grasped for names. Nothing struck me. I sure as hell wasn't going with "the cat." My precious baby deserved more than that.

…His face had a sort of confident look to it. This wasn't your sly, snobbish street cat, oh no… He was dapper. A gentleman. I swear to (insert higher power here), whenever he looked at me, it looked like he was about to invite me for tea or something. Kinda like…

…Of course. There was one figure that immediately came to mind. A womanizer in theory. Always offered to take all sorts of ladies out for tea.

Even when this cat was meowing outside the door, he sounded like some sort of cat prince.

This figure came from a fable called "Fate of the Flame Emblem," basically a story about two families feuding and everyone dying.

And this feline was about to be named after him.

"So…" I told the cat, as I rubbed him with the towel as to dry him off. "If you'd be okay with it… I dub thee Laslow."

He meowed. Sounded content.


	6. Chapter 6

Sometimes, it just kinda happened.

My loneliness. The fact that I _had_ nobody.

It just… sorta happened.

I think that for the first week I was in Stardew Valley, my mind was majorly taken over by the thoughts of moving, and what I was to do here.

Well, now that I was making a decent living again, and had figured out how to farm and everything, my mind could finally get back to what was important. My crippling lack of social support.

The daydreams. The mental images of having someone to hang out with at any moment, someone to hold… someone thinking about me on a regular basis… It ran through my mind more often than I could track. It just happened. Hard as I tried, there was no controlling it. It was almost like I'd trained this mindset into myself somehow.

Some days, it made me feel shittier than others.

I could go about my day alright, but it was always with weight in my heart, and the occasional tear in my eye.

...Usually, the first thing I did when I woke up in the morning was to check up on Laslow. I think I was afraid he'd get sick with something completely preventable, then drop dead. It took a few days of seeing his jovial self walk about the place for it to register that I was doing okay as a cat owner.

Oh, those crops I planted did eventually grow. I picked them and planted some more, but I gotta tell you, I was a proud farmer. I was made especially happy to see those blue jazzes; those things were _beautiful_. In fact, I basically just planted more of them. Maybe I'd be one of those flower-selling girls from times of y'old. Sounded like an adventurous life to me. Then again, times had changed. I'd probably have to get a degree in flowers and open a freakin' shop in this day and age.

I went into town that day, intending to buy a fuckton of blue jazz seeds… but got another idea for a fun thing to do. I could plant some produce and cook some fun food with it once it grew! Maybe I could sell that and become known as Stardew Valley's head chef! Or… you know… just make a few extra G.

So I brought a whole variety of different seeds to the counter at the general store that day, went home, and started planting them.

After I planted the first pack, I decided to stop for a moment. I stayed completely still, so my heart and lungs were the only things moving.

I took in the sounds of my new home. Well, what few there were. All I could really hear were birds, and even their chirps were real faint. Things were just way too quiet.

And I still had all these seeds to plant.

So I started to hum. It was a song that I'd quite honestly had stuck in my head the past two days, a love song about how lost someone was before he met the love of his life.

Of course I daydreamt of my ever having this sort of importance to someone. Well, would I really want anyone I cared about to feel the pain of being completely lost? Yes, I decided. Being lost is painful, but the pain is completely worth it if you glean a lesson from it. You could get a doctorate in anything, but you'll still end up losing a good half, if not three-quarters, of what you were taught. These lessons, though… the lessons you learned from pain, uncertainty, and mistakes... were the ones that would stick with you for the rest of your life. I'd certainly learned a good chunk in my first 20 years here in this universe, and I had never been so enthusiastic about learning. As much as loving to learn would have been a great asset in school, I just couldn't do it. Learning from life itself, though, made me extremely happy. I could have been an honors student in the school of life. Maybe not the valedictorian, but certainly an honors student. Of course I would want someone I cared about to experience that.

Laslow meowed. I quit humming when my heart lurched from the startle. I looked around in my kneeling position, then stood up to look behind me.

He was very much eyeing a bush in the distance.

"Laslow?" I asked. "You, uh…okay, buddy?"

He just kept staring at it.

So I went over and did a survey of said bush. I even tried looking within it. Nothing. Cats see ghosts all the time, I figured, so that must have been it.


	7. Chapter 7

A few mornings later, I checked my mail to find something regarding the town's Egg Festival.

Ah, egg hunting. That was exciting. One year, my father had put rare coins in plastic eggs for me and my niece to find.

Then one year, I asked when we were going to go look for eggs, and I was told the family hadn't prepared for an egg hunt that year. From there, I figured I'd become an adult and I had to leave it behind.

Even if I figured this egg hunt would probably just be for the kiddos, I jotted the festival down in my calendar.

I decided today would be a fishing day, so I quickly watered the seeds (which were growing quite well), as well as Laslow's water bowl, and headed toward the beach.

I fished, and day quickly became night. Or more accurately, when I'd run out of room for any more fish, the stars were out in full force.

I checked my watch. 9pm. Yeah, Pierre's closed at 5 if I remembered correctly, so the backpack upgrade would have to wait.

I didn't really want to get up from my sitting position on the sand, though. I think I was having another one of those moments where I'd opened my mind up to the awareness of my overall situation, as in it was dawning on me once again that I was sitting here, calm as the night itself, after having gone through so much prior.

I decided to lie down on the sand and get a more direct look at the sky.

These stars looked no different than they did in the city. They were the same stars (or memorials of stars, technically) as always.

…How many different possibilities existed for what my life could have ended up being at this exact moment? If I had said perhaps one more or one less word to _anyone_ , I could have been a yakuza. Or a bride. Or living in a dumpster in an abandoned alley. Or selling dumpsters. But because I did EXACTLY what I had done, movement for movement, word for word, I was here. On the beach of an area named Stardew Valley, with not many people, but _all_ the charm. There were other people who did what they did movement for movement and word for word, but ended up in much worse or much more mundane situations. Life's crazy.

…I still didn't want to leave. I didn't want to zone back into the world. I needed something else crazy to think about.

Well, Sam's sorta crazy. Had to be, considering his face suddenly appeared in the sky.

And I don't mean in some sort of "Oh, I'm falling in love and he's always on my mind" kinda way.

As in he, looking down at me, said "What's so special about the sky?"

I instinctively sat up and asked "Where did you come from?!"

"…Pelican Town," he answered, sitting down beside me.

I sighed in defeat at how very right he was.

"…Anyway," I said. "I could probably write a thesis on how special the sky is. I mean, everyone on this Earth is looking up at the same sky. People looked at this same sky who are long decomposed, and people will look at this sky who have yet to even be cells now."

I decided to lie back down.

"In addition," I continued. "Some of these stars are dead. They're just… ah, what was it? Something to do with light travel and just how far away these things are. They're so far away we haven't even seen their light go out yet."

Out of curiosity, I looked over at Sam. His eyes had been on me for that entire speech.

"Y-Yeah," he said, looking up at the stars themselves. "That is very crazy."

He lied down as well.

"Hey, your monologue just now reminds me of Penny," he said. "She lives here, and she is _such_ a bookworm."

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Uh huh," said Sam. "She also tutors the kids, considering there's… not really a school here."

"Cool," I said.

"Oh, and as far as kids go, there's only two here," said Sam. "My little bro Vincent, and a girl named Jas."

"Jas…" I said. "…Would it be weird if I said that's a cute name?"

"…No, not really," Sam replied. "She's Marnie's niece. Oh, Marnie's the one that… I'm pretty sure she's the one to go to regarding animals around here, so… I guess you'll be talking to her a lot."

"What sorts of animals?" I asked. "Cows, sheep-"

"Yeah, that sort of thing," said Sam. "…I-I'm sorry, I cut you off, didn't I?"

"Nah, you answered my question anyway," I said.

"…So, uh…" said Sam. "You a gamer?"

"Hell to the yes I am," I smiled.

"Awesome!" Sam replied. "…You and my friends Sebastian and Abigail would probably get along very well."

"Oh, yeah, I've seen them!" I said.

"…Yeah," said Sam. "You saw Sebastian completely kick my butt at pool again, didn't you?"

"Again?" I laughed. I knew this was a regular thing, but it made me laugh that he'd accepted it, too.

"I'll turn the tables one day!" he vowed dramatically.

"I believe in you," I told him wholeheartedly. "Realistically, there's no way someone can suck at something forever, especially with how often you seem to play."

"…Heh… thanks," said Sam. "…You should drop by the saloon more often."

"I'll be sure to do that," I smiled. I was just invited to hang out. Whether I wanted it to or not, that meant the world to me.

We laid in silence for a moment then. I checked my watch. Somehow, there was still plenty of time left in my night.

"…What kind of music do you like?" asked Sam.

"I… like a bit of everything," I answered. "Although I've been real into electronic music as of late. My favorite band does vaporwave music."

"Oh, wow," said Sam. "I'm trying to get a band together with Sebastian. And I guess Abigail, too. Sebastian really wants her to be the drummer for some reason."

"Oh, really?" I said, raising a brow. "…'For some reason'?"

"Maybe he likes her or something, I dunno," Sam shrugged. "…Actually, that'd explain a lot."

I chuckled a bit, not really knowing what to say. Sam also gave a bit of a chuckle.

Then, another bout of silence. After a few seconds, I glanced at Sam, who was looking at me, but quickly looked away when he saw me looking. Of course, half of me was like "HE LIKES YOU! SOUND THE ALARM!" until my more logical half shut that first half's mouth.

"…Let me know if this is too much," said Sam. "But what brings you here?"

"What brings me here?" I answered.

"Of all the places you could have moved, you chose a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere," said Sam. "Sounds like something out of a romance novel or something."

I couldn't help but laugh pretty solidly at this.

I then said "Yeah, true. Well, it's… something like that. See, that farmhouse was once my grandfather's. Basically, before I came here, I was stuck in a horrible job with Joja."

Sam let out a pretty loud laugh.

"I work at the JojaMart here," he told me.

"No way," I said.

"I'm serious!" he said. "…It sucks. Don't worry, I get 'cha completely."

Another second of silence.

"So…" said Sam. "Hated your job and moved here, to… Did you inherit that place?"

"…Pretty much," I answered. Golly, if it wasn't for that bit of generosity from Grandpa, where would I currently be? There was no way I wouldn't have snapped by now in that metal cube called an office. I almost said this aloud, but something in me told me not to.

"We've lived here since I can remember," said Sam.

He sighed. It was a long, heavy sigh. It was almost like something was wrong, but I didn't want to push it incase either there wasn't or there _very_ much was.

It was at this moment that I crashed. Feeling like a lead statue was the last thing I remembered.


	8. Chapter 8

I was _mortified_ to wake up in my own damn bed that morning. I knew perfectly well where I had ended up here from.

The beach.

With Sam.

I died more and more within when I tried to piece together what must have happened. Or, pretty much, what Sam must have gone through. He'd never seen me crash before, I figured. He probably panicked and called 911 or something. Yeah, I really would just have fallen asleep, but it'd be such a deep sleep that _nothing_ would have awoken me but the clock striking 6. At this point, the "medical team" probably just knew what to do and had grown tired of my shit. Grown tired of my growing too tired.

Poor Sam, though. Ugh… he was the one face in this town that had made me feel welcome so far, and now I could potentially never face him again.

…Speaking of which, the previous night was something only daydreams were made out of, or at least I figured. I lied in bed for a while, going over that marvelous exchange repeatedly in my head.

He seemed… happy to spend time with me. I mean, he had to be! What peer pressure could have driven him to spend time with me in those circumstances? If it was the daytime, I would argue that maybe his mother pushed him to talk to me or something.

But it was really the dead of night. Who goes to sit beside someone in the dead of night without the true desire to?

This felt too good to be true. I… couldn't really think of much to do about it, though. Maybe I'd drop by the saloon tonight.

I went outside and made a beeline to my mailbox to get the standard "we found you outside and took your money, yada yada" letter out of it and into the trash. Something struck me as I touched it, though.

Sam said he worked at JojaMart, right?

I opened the letter. Sure enough, once again, it said that a JojaMart representative had found me. Considering Sam was probably the one that called the medical team last night, that was true as fuck.

It was also instinct for me to look at my G count whenever this happened, just to make sure the bill hadn't made me completely broke.

…Something seemed off. I could have sworn I ended the day with 5296G the previous day. I still had 5296G. Several possibilities raced through my head, but I shrugged them off and assumed I misremembered something.

I then spotted some fully-grown crops on my property. One of them was some garlic. I looked at it, marveling at this complete freakin' vegetable I'd cultivated. I then took it inside and put it in the fridge, then headed into town.

I stood for a moment, trying to decide what my first move would be. To buy more seeds, to go fishing, or to investigate that abandoned building over there? I don't think I'd ever been given so many immediate options before in my life.

"Oh, hello!" came a cheery voice from somewhere behind me.

Took a second for my brain to register that said voice could have been talking to me. Once it did, I turned around to see a woman with her hair in a braid.

"Ah, hi," I replied. "How are you today?"

"Good, good," she replied. "Are you the new farmer… Rachael, is it?"

"Yes, that's me," I nodded.

"We're glad you're okay," she said. "My son says you passed out."

"Your… son…" I said. "Would you happen to be Sam's mother?"

"Yes, I am," she nodded. "So you've met Sam!"

"Yeah, I have," I nodded. "He's been a great friend so far." I sorta spoke before I thought with that last line, but at least it was coherent.

"I'm so glad to hear that!" the woman smiled. "Come to us if you ever need help settling into our little town!"

"Certainly!" I smiled.

We then said our goodbyes, and the woman went on her way, and I went on mine, which was toward the beach. I decided I'd fish until the sun went down , then go to the saloon to see if Sam's posse was there. So I did so, not managing to reel in very much by the time the stars came out. It was 10pm by the time I got to the saloon.

Nobody was in the game room yet, so I took to Junimo Kart while I waited.

A couple of hours later, not only was I starting to yawn, but the music had stopped and everyone was leaving.

Unless they'd played and dashed while I was unaware, nobody had shown up behind me. I sighed a confused and defeated sigh and headed for home.


	9. Chapter 9

I was pacing around the Egg Festival a few days later. I glanced at the food, and looked around at all the people I didn't know. Was this everyone?

I assumed the little boy was Sam's little brother. You know... there was a bit of similarity there. Similarity to Sam, that is, appearance-wise. Just a tad.

In a bit, Mayor Lewis approached me.

"Hello!" he greeted me.

"Oh, hi!" I responded.

"It seems like everyone else is ready for the Egg Hunt!" he said. "How are you feeling? Are you ready?"

"I-I…" I replied. "I think so."

It was here that it dawned on me. If this "Egg Hunt" shindig was only for the kids, it would be a 1-v-1. There were only two kids here.

"Are you participating?" he asked.

I was definitely taken aback.

"O-Oh, I can participate?" I asked. "…I guess throughout my life, this sort of thing was only for the kids."

"Ah, to heck with that!" said the mayor. "If you're still a kid at heart, you're more than welcome!"

"Alright, then I'll do it!" I said. "Count me in!"

"Great!" the mayor smiled. "With that, it would appear everyone's ready!"

So those of us who took part in the hunt (me, the kids, Sam, the purple-haired girl, and a girl in overalls) stood in front of the mayor while he explained the rules.

And soon enough, we were off. We were only given less than a minute to find as many eggs as possible, so I was basically running around like a cat caught in a bag, looking for anything even remotely egg-shaped.

I managed to find six eggs, but I felt like the time flew by way too quickly.

Who knew, though? Maybe I could still take it!

As soon as we reconvened, though, it was pretty clear the purple-haired girl has us all beat. She had a total of 9, while the rest of us had somewhere between 4 and 7.

It was here that I learned her name was Abigail. Her name was called, and she stepped up to take the prize.

The kids and the other girl seemed to have this pained look on their faces. Sam, however, still seemed confident.

That's… really all I have to report for that day. I really did wish we had longer for the Egg Hunt, though, like maybe until all the eggs were found.


	10. Chapter 10

Soon enough, spring turned to summer.

I woke up that first day of summer, fed Laslow, and looked at the calendar to see that it was Summer 1. I hadn't really been paying attention, to be honest. Didn't really make a difference in the city; people had been roasting franks and burgers as soon as it'd gotten warm. Stuffy metal boxes with cubicles knew no calendar; every day was equal… equally suffocating.

My city roots probably showed true on my face when I saw that all my blue jazzes were dead. I swear Laslow came out and sat next to me just to give me this "You dumb bitch" look.

Well, it could have been worse. I could have been on my knees and frantically searching the soil for a parasite or a bug or something. But nah, I put two and two together.

I had also never seen the leaves on the trees turn such different shades of green so fast. I was honestly shocked, to where I just kinda looked around for a minute or two.

I eventually figured leaving the flowers' dead corpses there wasn't going to do any good, so I removed them before I set off for town to see what _was_ in season.

I decided on sunflowers, and bought about 5 packs of seeds. I had always loved how tall and grand sunflowers looked, and I was willing to bet I wasn't alone. I would have bought so many more had the seeds I'd already bought not taken such a huge bite out of my wallet.

When I went down to the beach to fish, I spotted a man in a green jacket, tossing a gridball around. I didn't pay much mind to him; he was just part of the vast majority of the town that I hadn't really met yet.

"Hey, catch!" he said.

Wait, what? Was that directed toward me?

I raised my hands instinctively before knowing for sure, but a bit too late. The gridball bounced off of my palm, and I failed to catch it before it hit the ground.

"Good try!" the man laughed. _Now,_ my brain put everything together; he _was_ talking to me! I could feel myself flush a bit. He was probably going to make fun of me now because, you know, I was a girl and I was startled and I failed to catch a gridball and-

"You're the new girl, right?" he asked, genuinely. "I don't think a day went by that I didn't hear about you for about a week."

"Heh, really?" I asked, gaining my confidence back.

"Not kidding," he said. "I've recently heard that your name's Rachael. That right?"

"Yup," I said with a bit of a laugh. "Geez, I don't even get the luxury of giving out my own name, do I?" The man laughed, and I laughed along.

"I'm Alex," the man, now known as Alex, told me.

"Great to meet you!" I smiled and waved.

"Good to meet you, too!" Alex smiled in response.

I headed for the pier, feeling in frustration as the "romance guru" in my mind added Alex to a list and stamped "Jock" in big red letters over it. I knew for a fact that there had to be more to this man than a gridball, so I soon shrugged it off and figured I'd learn more of his story over time.

I had just put my first step onto the wood when I heard him ask "Was that throw good?" I was struck by how insecure, masked with confidence, that sounded.

I turned back around and replied "Were you…" I was going to ask if he'd really meant that as a genuine gridball throw, but I realized a moment too late how insensitive that sounded.

To my horror, Alex's face fell just a bit.

"I'm trying to become the first professional gridball player to come out of Stardew Valley," he explained. "Be real with me. What do you think my chances are?"

I thought of a response, then pondered it for a few seconds, then decided to go with it.

"All I can tell you for sure is that you'll never make it if you don't go for it," I said. "I believe in you. I think if you really work at it, you'll get there."

I was scared for a moment that "really work at it" made it sound like he had so little talent that he'd have to put more effort in to compensate. That's not what I meant, but it's what I was afraid he would get from it. I mean, at the _very_ damn least, he had much more of a chance than I did.

"You're right," said Alex. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

He seemed happy, so I turned back toward the ocean and took a small breath of relief.

* * *

 **Author's note: I'll be real with you… I didn't think I was coming back to this. I forget what happened, whether I figured out there'd be a plot hole or whether the story elements became too overwhelming, but… to make a long motherfuckin' story short, I've been going through something mentally, and I've gone through shit in general since last I wrote, and suddenly got the intense desire to return to this. I think it could help me. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. Here's hoping I've got everything figured out and can finish what I started for once!**


	11. Chapter 11

I think it was around that time, my first summer there, when I heard Elliott play the piano.

The moment I stepped onto the beach to go fishing that day, I had no idea that that dilapidated old cabin belonged to anyone. This was also before I knew that the long-haired prince-looking dude was named Elliott.

I had just caught an octopus when I first heard piano music coming from that direction. I looked behind me, but still couldn't figure out which direction it was coming from. So I stood, left my pole, and walked around the beach for a bit, until I deduced where the music was originating from.

Well, I'd be damned. There was somebody playing a piano in that cabin.

There was a window right in front, and it was wide open. With burning curiosity, I tried to move to where I could see who was in there without being spotted myself.

And with a certain angle, I was able to do just that. The man tickling the ivories was the one with the long hair and the red tailcoat. The one I associated with the word "prince."

And my heart made _one_ spiked beat, as if he was one.

I immediately assumed he was a pianist. That he either casually thrived on melodies plucked from ivories and ebonies or was practicing to make a living from it. If Alex was Stardew Valley's gridball player, this guy would be its pianist, I thought.

I couldn't even get back to my pole before the song was over.

And just as I cast my line, I heard that cabin's door open and close.

At first, I instinctively wanted to stay absolutely still, as to not make any noise. I soon gave up on this idea, though, as I realized that should I suddenly hook a fish, not only would that have made noise on its own, but I would have to attend to it and make noise anyway. So I got up and walked to where I could see behind the fishing shop.

There the man was, seeming to walk toward town. Part of me wanted to say something… like "Hey, was that you playing the piano? You're really good!" or "Hey, I'm new around here. What's your name?"

Not only did my social anxiety deem any of that suicide, but I also thought about my general dislike for people hearing _me_ play the piano or sing or anything like that and decided to extend the bliss of ignorance to him. Not that there's anything wrong with commending someone for their piano playing, per se; this was my personal way of treating others how I would have liked to be treated.

Within seconds, he was out of sight. He wasn't a hermit, at least. I'd see him around.

I heard my fishing pole shake and went to reel in my catch.


	12. Chapter 12

One summer's morning, I suppose there was an earthquake. All I really remember was being half-asleep when my bed was shaking. I was still asleep enough to think it was Laslow playing with something under the bed that was causing it to shake.

When I went to feed Laslow that morning, he ran up to the food bowl, and I was literally like "Did you find a mouse under my bed last night, buddy?" I'm half-convinced he gave me this look of "What in Yoba's name are you talking about, woman?"

I only realized it was an earthquake when two different people told me about it, not at the same time.

I had just cast my line when I heard and felt unfamiliar footsteps on the pier.

Sometimes, especially when it rained, Sebastian would come out to have a smoke and get away from everything else, but his footsteps were generally pretty slow, and he stood out on another part of the pier that wasn't that close to mine. I often wondered if he'd ever say hello. He seemed to be so much of a loner that I was scared to do it myself.

Aside from that, Willy was around, but considering he lived in that little fish shop, he didn't really go that far from it. If this had been him, I would have known. And his footsteps also weren't that quick.

Now, I'm not saying whoever this was was doing a freakin' power walk onto the pier. Their steps just seemed to be a bit quicker. Just a tad.

They stopped directly to my right. I looked, and standing there was Sam.

I think this was when another thing began. I saw him there, and some mixture of sedation and excitement, an oxymoron in my blood, originated from my chest for a brief moment. Nothing major, but 'ey, neither were the sunflower seeds I'd planted that, even without blooming, were already almost as tall as I was.

"Did your place get rocked by that earthquake, too?" he asked.

"Wait, earthquake?" I asked. I felt a tug from my fishing pole, and I proceeded to start reeling it in.

"Don't tell me you didn't feel it!" Sam exclaimed, sitting down beside me.

"No!" I said. "…Wait, THAT'S what that was?!"

The bed shaking. It all came back to me. I was trying to figure out how I hadn't heard or seen anything else out of the ordinary. Nothing had been knocked over, I hadn't heard any rumbling… Was my bed just that flimsy?

"What what was?" asked Sam.

I reeled in a tilapia and put it away.

"My bed was shaking early this morning," I said, deciding to drop my line in the water right by the pier.

"Got'cha," said Sam.

"Dude, I thought it was my cat," I laughed. Sam laughed as well. "I… Look, I was barely awake. I thought he was playing around under my bed or… or found a mouse or something. That was a freakin' _earthquake_ , then, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," said Sam before laughing again. "Yeah, it was an earthquake."

I was suddenly bummed out that I missed an earthquake due to pure oblivion. I was the type to be strangely excited about natural disasters, as long as they weren't endangering me or those I cared about. If there was a tornado nearby, you _know_ I'd be out in my yard looking for that fucker.

We sat there in silence for a moment, the moment leading up to my reeling in a halibut.

"So… is this what you do?" asked Sam. "Fishing day in and day out?"

I hadn't really paid much mind to it until he asked, but… yeah. When I really thought about it, I'd essentially found this to be the best way to make money here. Perhaps not the most profitable, but the one that brought me the most joy.

"I guess so," I answered with a bit of a laugh. "I found out I like doing it. It allows you to think about things while simultaneously focusing your attention on something on the outside. Lets your mind wander on its own, without you having to force it to do so, if that makes sense. If… If nothing else, that alone made coming to Stardew Valley completely worth it."

That and Laslow, I supposed. He was the sweetest little creature I had ever had the pleasure of encountering.

It was one of those things I realized _as_ I was saying it, though. I was suddenly really happy.

I'd made a move, and it was worth it. That's perhaps one of the best things that could happen to anyone, really, and I had that fortune.

My life was better now.

"I'm happy you think that," Sam smiled.

We sat together for another minute or so. Just as I felt the tug of my next catch, Sam stood up.

"I have to go," he said simply. "I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Absolutely," I nodded. "Have a good day!"

"You too!" he waved as he walked away.

The second person to tell me about the earthquake was Willy, who walked out of his shop later in the day.

"Did you feel the earthquake this morning?" he asked as he found his own fishing spot. "That thing was massive!"

"Yeah, I suppose I did," I said with a bit of a laugh. "Here's the thing, though; I was still so asleep at the time, I thought it was my cat shaking the bed."

Willy laughed in response, and we both fished to ourselves. I did so until the clock struck midnight. As per usual. My newfound usual.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's warning (potential trigger): This chapter makes a reference to suicide.**

* * *

Another morning that summer, someone was already on the beach when I got there.

Sebastian wasn't out on the pier, and Willy wasn't out yet. Whoever this was, he was sitting on the sand… and appeared to be crying. Quickly, my brain registered the green jacket and brown hair, and that this poor soul was Alex.

In reaction, something pierced my heart and made it hurt. Every sob he emitted wrecked me and made me want to do something more and more. The battle between "help him" and "he wants to deal with whatever it is on his own" raged in my head. Either knowing someone, especially someone he barely knew, had seen him cry would make things worse… or he needed someone. Or both at the same time.

I can't say what conditioned this into me, but a little part of me feared that if he really did need someone, and nobody came to his side, he'd be found dead the next day. I'd feared this many times before with many people, and literally all of them were fine, and I know I'd feel weird if someone told me they were worried for my safety just because I was down about something… but still, it happened again. Being all alone and having the thoughts of death, pills, heights, and what have you somewhere in my mind at all times was nothing new to me, after all.

Some days, I felt braver than others. This was one of those others, so I decided to sneak back into town and let Alex deal with what he was going through.

It weighed on me, though, as I went to Pierre's. For the next few minutes, "Is he going to be okay?" and "Maybe I should go back…" were taking turns racing through my mind.

I came up to the store to find that all along, there had been a calendar and a piece of paper titled "Help Wanted" on the wall.

It seemed that someone named Clint wanted a certain number of pieces of coal, according to the "Help Wanted" paper. On the calendar, pictures of various people were on various days, and their names were listed in small print to the left of their portraits. If these were birthdays, Alex's appeared to be in a few days, and Sam's was 4 days after that (my heart did that thing again, with a bit of added anxiety), and Willy's was the next week. There were also two purple flags, one on the upcoming Thursday (listed as "Luau") and one on the final day of the season (listed as "Dance of the Moonlight Jellies").

I stood and pondered the whole birthday thing for a second. Firstly, I was charmed that birthdays were held to this importance. Then, I briefly panicked over the possibility that birthday gifts were a city-wide tradition and I'd neglected everyone's birthdays in the spring, and a little girl's birthday a few days ago. I hadn't been told about anything like that, though, and nobody seemed to be holding anything against me, so I decided not to worry about it.

More importantly, though, Sam's and Willy's birthdays were coming up. I felt like Sam and I were decently close, and I was half convinced he possibly cared about me… and my heart was doing a thing, but that's not important. And Willy was getting to be my fishing buddy; normally, if an older guy was sitting within view and sharing the silence and the ocean with me, I'd have a mini anxiety attack the whole time… and I mean, I did with Willy at first… but over time, that anxiety was slowly turning into a camaraderie. I was starting to get more and more comfortable with him, to the point where I enjoyed his company. I could tell he was happy to see me fishing, so that felt nice, too. I remembered him fearing that it was a dying hobby. Then, while Alex's birthday was even sooner than those two, I didn't feel like I knew him well enough.

So I decided that if at all possible, I would find gifts for Sam and Willy.

Of course, there was the question of what they liked. According to my anxiety, you fuck up the birthday present, you end up on their shit list forever.

I went home and did some research. Laslow curled up beside me on the bed, and I gave him some gentle scritches, which potentially eased me more than it did him.

…Sam said he was in a band, right? No, getting a band together. Trying to. Okay, so he liked music… but… what did he play? Did he even play anything, or was he just some kind of manager trying to recruit people who played instruments? What did all musicians like? Headphones? But what if he didn't use headphones for anything?!

I eventually got frustrated enough to sigh and decide that I'd ask Willy. He was a cheerful guy who seemed to have been here for a while, so maybe he would know the little things about Stardew Valley's people.

…And as soon as I decided that, the next revelation came along and threw that plan out the window.

 _Sam was trying to beat Sebastian at billiards._ Sam knew I knew that about him! But… what do you get someone who's into playing pool?

I did a little research and happened upon a cue ball with red dots, that serves to help you train. This would be perfect, and I knew there was a sports shop in the city that had to have it.

I felt much prouder of myself than I could remember being in a long time. I almost went to a happy sleep without considering Willy's gift.

Now, what about Willy? What would he like? I didn't know what sorts of fishing gear he already had. The pole he used seemed to be pretty solid; for all I knew, it was already the most advanced one on the market, and even if it wasn't, would it be too forward to get him a new fishing pole? Maybe he was emotionally attached to his and would be offended that I thought he was all about the newest and greatest stuff.

What do you get a fisherman for their birthday aside from that? I did a bit of research on that front, and decided that when I headed into the city, I'd get Willy a pair of gloves. It was simple, it wasn't expensive, it wasn't cheap, and you never know when you may need a new pair of gloves.

Ah, if I had the luxury of asking these people outright. Such is the game of birthdays.


	14. Chapter 14

Sam's birthday was almost a disaster. Well, okay, maybe that's not the right way to put it.

I felt like a disaster, though, because of the way things barely worked out. All thanks to fear. Let me tell you how that happened.

To start, I woke up late. As in 4pm late. Probably because I had made it into the house, but not into my bed, when I passed out the previous night, and awoke on the floor.

Thank (insert higher power here) I'd had the enthusiasm to wrap Sam's present as soon as I'd come home with it. It was an almost exact cube, wrapped in bold red wrapping paper and topped with a stringy gold ribbon.

I fled into a panic, quickly feeding Laslow, scooping up Sam's present, and heading out.

I was so frenzied that I didn't notice until too late that it was storming out. By that, I mean my boot got caught in some mud, and I fell face-first into more mud, and I didn't get up for maybe ten seconds because it took me that long to process what had happened. I was okay physically, and the present seemed to have retained its cube shape, but there was a bit of mud on a corner of it and even more mud on me, from below my nose down to my chest. My pride got a nasty bruise as well. I slowed down a bit, but still took off pretty quickly while using my sleeve to attempt to wipe the mud off me. Didn't really help that some of it was starting to go down my shirt.

When I got to town, I realized I didn't even know which house Sam's was. Or if Sam was even in any of these houses. Or if he was even in Stardew Valley today.

In my panic, I'd forgotten to grab an umbrella, so I dashed over to the clinic to take shelter under its roof.

I realized what was happening. I, like a complete and utter dolt, was in a panic over getting someone a birthday gift. A birthday gift is meant to be a happy thing, right? Here I was, making a bigger deal out of it than it should have been! I felt like a complete idiot.

Wait, was I an idiot for making it a big deal… or was I an idiot for doing this in the first place? For meeting someone, then running out and buying him something special for his birthday (nothing generic that anyone would like, such as candy, but something picked out with him in mind) a mere season later? I was being too forward, wasn't I?

I felt myself wanting to cry, so I then tried to encourage myself. Sam went out of his way to talk to me a lot of the time, even if it was just to come out to the beach and ask about my day!

I remembered the first time he'd done it. He seemed to be in a hurry, so all he could say was "I gotta go, but I wanted to stop by to say hi!" before taking off again. For the moment, things felt like they were going to be eternally okay.

That meant a lot, so I had to show my gratitude, right? Yeah! And my gift was special; it showed I remembered something about him and cared about his ambitions. Even if his ambition was to 1-up a friend in a game of pool. He'd like it! He'd… at least appreciate the thought, right?

But what if he didn't? Because what if he thought the thought was that I thought he sucked? What if he thought it was weird that I would go out of my way to bring him a birthday present? What if it made him uncomfortable?

…Why was my mind going in these different directions so quickly, and so painfully, anyway? It was like nothing I'd ever felt before… or something I'd only felt that one time in middle school when I got that crush on-

Before I could even conclude that thought in my own head, a voice called "Hello!" real cheerfully.

I looked over to see Sam's mother standing there, with an open umbrella in one hand and a plastic bag filled with groceries in another.

"What _are_ you doing out here in the rain without an umbrella?" she fretted. "You're going to get sick! And… you look like you fell! Are you okay?"

Things would only get worse if I didn't explain myself, I decided on a dime. Literally, I just swung to a "fuck it" attitude and told her everything.

"I dunno if this is a bit forward, but I got this for Sam for his birthday," I said, holding the present out. "Then, I woke up late and tripped on some mud, and that's why I'm a mess."

"…You know what?" said Sam's mother. "Let's take this to him."

For a moment, I regretted everything.

And that alone made me realize what else had happened here today.

"I'm sure he'll love it," Sam's mother smiled, holding out her umbrella so I could fit under it. I sighed and obliged.

Soon, we were headed into that blue house in the southwest corner of town.

For literally trying to take note of the little details of this place to distract myself from the fact that _Sam's mother was going to make me face Sam in this state_ , I have surprisingly little to report. There were a couple of couches and a decently-sized plant. I suppose there wasn't a TV anywhere, but rather, a radio sitting on a small table by the blue couch.

Sam's mother knocked on a nearby door and said "Sam! Someone's here to see you!"

"I'll be right there!" I heard Sam reply from within the room.

Yeah, my appearance was fucked, but I could still make a last-ditch effort to tidy myself on the inside. I took a few quiet, deep breaths. I took note of my rapid heartbeat and tried to make my brain send it the message to slow the fuck down. I even closed my eyes for a second or two. And actually, all of that did help me regain my composure for the moment that door opened.

Sam emerged, looking as he always did. He then saw me there.

"Hey," he said, walking over to me.

I could absolutely tell he saw the mud caked onto me, but didn't want to say anything. I supposed I was grateful for that.

Before my heart could take off again, I held out the present, smiled, and said "Happy birthday!"

Looking a bit surprised, he took it off my hands.

"Thanks!" he smiled.

He sat down on a nearby couch and opened it. I got the feeling of being on a stage, being judged by celebrity judges.

Not even on purpose, my attention was on his face for the seconds it took for him to open the present. Thankfully, he already seemed to be happy.

Of course, then came the fateful moment when he took the cue ball out of the box. The fear he'd take it the wrong way came back, but once again, I knew things could only go badly if I didn't explain.

"It's a cue ball you can train with," I said. "I, uh, know you want to get better at billiards, so…"

To my relief, Sam smiled.

"I never would have thought of this," he told me. He then looked at me. "Thank you, Rachael. This could really help me up my game." He looked back at the ball. "Do I practice my aim with this?"

"Yeah, that's what the dots are for," I said. "I guess, when you're ready, you can also use it to practice making it spin in intricate ways and stuff like that."

"Cool," said Sam.

"That is cool!" said Sam's mother.

"So… uh…" I said. "How has your day been?" I genuinely hoped his birthday, of all days, was at least decent.

"Alright," Sam shrugged. "Just kinda… hung around, played my guitar for a bit…"

So he played the guitar. I knew that now.

"Neat," I smiled.

A bit of silence.

Then, Sam's mother said "Rachael, what were your plans for today?"

I laughed and replied "I'd planned to give Sam his present, then do some fishing, but I didn't even wake up until 4. I don't think I have enough energy in me to do any fishing. I think I'm just gonna head home."

"It is getting late," said Sam's mother.

She looked out the window, as did I. It was still raining out there. When it rained here, it poured, which I could appreciate as a lover of rain… a.k.a. a psychopath, I guess.

"Sam," said Sam's mother. "Grab an umbrella and walk Rachael home."

Some sort of fight or flight thing kicked in, and I quickly put my hands up and replied "No, no, it's okay. He doesn't have to do that." I went to stand by the door. "I hope your birthday's been great, Sam!"

"…Y-Yeah, it was," Sam replied.

"I'll see you later!" I smiled, putting my hand on the door knob.

"Thank you for dropping by!" Sam's mother waved. "Be safe!"

"Thank you for _letting_ me stop by!" I said, opening and walking out the door.

After stepping outside and closing the door, I breathed a sigh of relief.

The rain was uncomfortable, so I took a bit of a dash back toward home. I also became a bit fearful when I realized how much of a blur the start of my day had been, to the point where I didn't remember if I'd fed Laslow. If not, my poor buddy was going to have a fit!

I don't think I got quite past the house next to Sam's when I heard a voice shout "Wait!"

I stopped and turned around to see Sam himself running up to me with an open umbrella. It might even have been the same one that his mother was using.

"Did your mother make you come out here anyway?" I laughed.

"No, no," Sam replied.

His face was red. I assumed it was because he'd just dashed out here.

"I… didn't want you to get wet," he said.

"I was already soaking when I got into town," I laughed.

He sighed and said "Come here." He motioned for me to come under the umbrella with him, so I did, and we headed toward my home.

I felt a bit bad. I had the inkling that he'd lied about him not being out here because of his mother. I couldn't be sure, but having him come out even after I'd left seemed like a very "Sam's mother" thing to do. At least, from what I'd seen. I knew that asking Sam again would get me nowhere, though. Perhaps I'd never find out.

We walked in silence until we approached my house.

To my surprise, Laslow walked up to us when we got close enough to the house.

"Oh, hi!" I smiled, kneeling to pick him up.

I looked at him. There were some times when I could read his expression, and others when I couldn't. This time, I couldn't.

I was getting ready to ask him whether I'd fed him today, but then remembered that Sam was there. I turned to him, to see that his attention was also on Laslow.

"This is my cat, Laslow," I smiled.

What Sam did next warmed my heart; he absolutely started smiling, saying his hellos to Laslow, and petting him and giving him scritches behind the ears.

That "romance guru" in my mind was sounding the alarms again. "Appreciates cats," it stamped by Sam's name in small green letters.

I also noticed that Laslow was purring like mad. Like, I was almost convinced I was holding a motorcycle motor!

This was strange, and… not really in a bad way. Laslow liked Sam. For some odd reason, I was happier than I should have been to learn this.

I suddenly couldn't stop smiling.

"He showed up by my door one day," I explained. "His fur was all matted and stuff, so I took him in."

I also realized he'd come out in the _rain_ to greet me. For what reason?

"I'm glad you took him in," said Sam. He stopped petting Laslow. "I guess you gave him the name?"

"Yeah, I did," I replied. I then looked down at Laslow. "Did I feed you today? I rushed out of the house so quickly, I don't even remember if I fed you, you poor thing!"

Then, the blur that was 4pm today started becoming more coherent in my mind.

"Wait… yeah, I fed you," I realized aloud. "Did I? Yes. No? Yes? Yes."

I heard Sam laugh, and as much as I tried to fight it, I had to blush. Sam's laugh was really freakin' cute. Wait, what?

There was a moment of silence. And for it being a moment of silence, I didn't want it to end for some reason.

"I should probably head home," said Sam.

I also realized something was off when those words managed to cut real deep. Alas, it was getting dark. I probably had to start thinking about getting to bed myself.

"Hey…" I said. "Thanks for walking with me. Don't ever feel like you have to, but… this was nice."

"It was," Sam agreed with a nod.

He made a sound, as if to say something else, but quickly went quiet again.

"I'll see you around," he said instead, turning around to walk away.

"Yeah!" I said, turning toward my house. "See ya!" I waved with my free hand, went inside, and set Laslow down.

And next thing I knew, I was looking out my window to watch Sam walk back toward town.

As soon as he disappeared, I flopped face-first onto my bed. All this happiness was almost painful, and was converting to sadness. Because Sam was gone now? No, not because he was gone now.

There was no way in hell.

As soon as I felt Laslow hop up onto the bed, I said "Laslow, what the fuck is going on?" I lifted my face to look at him. "What's happening to me?"

He simply laid down, then laid his head on his arm.

* * *

 **Author's casual discussion: I'd like to report that I was about midway through this chapter when I looked over at a pillow on the floor, caught a glimpse of this huge-ass spider, then watched it** _ **jump**_ **toward the side of my bed. I, a grown-ass woman, had to get my mom to kill it. I'm never going to make it on my own.**


	15. Chapter 15

Willy's birthday wasn't nearly as chaotic.

His present was a little bigger than Sam's, but wrapped in the same wrapping paper and topped with the same golden bow.

I couldn't get it to him until later in the day, though. Nevertheless, when I gave it to him, it warmed my soul to see him smile and blush a little.

"Aww, thank you, Rachael!" he said. "You really didn't have to!"

"Yeah, well, I wanted to," I replied. "You've played a big part in my feeling welcome here. I'm grateful."

I almost launched into the tirade of how he'd gotten me into fishing and allowed me to carve out my own little place in Stardew Valley, but I decided not to.

His face lit up when he unwrapped and saw the gloves for the first time.

"Aww, you shouldn't have!" he laughed. "I was just thinking I needed a new pair!"

I still remember how happy he was. And thinking back on that still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.


	16. Chapter 16

So you know how I said that fishing allowed me to both have my attention on something and think about my life at the same time? It was a new balance I never thought was possible.

Yeah, well, then, I started thinking about Sam. Like, too much.

I think Sam had begun as a river in my brain when I first met him, and my subconscious built a dam so that I could function. But it wasn't the anniversary of when the man was born, nor when he walked me home in the rain and melted upon meeting my cat, when the dam crumbled.

It was the day after Willy's birthday. That's when the following shitstorm began.

And mah lawd, my subconscious built that dam because it knew what was going to happen.

As I reeled in a halibut, I thought about me and Sam going to a beach back where I had grown up. I had said as a child "If I get a boyfriend, I want this to be our first date."

As I caught some seaweed, I thought about him and me having a late-night conversation over the phone. Talking into the morning, about anything and everything… potentially even passing out while the call was still going.

As I caught a tilapia, I could only imagine what being in his arms felt like. Because, like, someone can hug you, but that doesn't guarantee they'll make you feel warm. I had legit hugged someone and didn't feel that much warmth coming from them. Then again, that person turned out to be an asshole. With that logic, I imagined that Sam could be so warm he could give me a fever with his embrace. That was the one fever I'd be more than happy to pick up.

As I caught another tilapia, I wondered if he was going through anything in his life. I doubted (and still doubt) that there was (is) a person walking this earth that wasn't (isn't) fighting a battle of some sort.

I caught some more seaweed and tried to tell myself I didn't have a snowball's chance in hell with him. After all, with situations such as these, it hurt the most when I'd gotten my hopes up. I wanted to be prepared for the inevitable. It would hurt less to accept it than to fight it. I understand, for many situations, it's vice versa… but this wasn't one of them.

He was so outgoing and cheerful. He liked a lot of different people. He needed someone who could talk to people and make them happy like he could… which wasn't me.

I caught another halibut and wondered what Sam was doing, where he was, how he was feeling… things I really didn't need to know.

Sam's stopping by the pier to say hello held a much different meaning. When he didn't, I felt even worse. Part of my mind would launch into a tirade about how he didn't care anymore, how he was maybe just one of those people who wanted to greet everyone he lived with, how… how there had to be some sort of ulterior motive that _wasn't_ that I meant something.

Whenever he did, though, it made my heart pump that oxymoronic combo of sedation and excitement again. I got all happy and shit. I felt what I _knew_ had to be romantic somehow. I wanted him to stay. I wanted him to sit down with me, talk to me about anything and everything… maybe even pick up a fishing pole from Willy's shop and fish with me. I didn't even think he liked fishing! I… I just craved for him to _be there_. The logical part of me knew that all that was way too much to ask; Sam had a life, a life different and independent from mine, and that was okay. In fact, it was a good thing, really.

Eventually, when midnight fell… I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to go home. It was like my brain designated any waking moment as a chance for me to see Sam again.

My logical mind, though, quickly reassured the emotional mind that I'd rather not see Sam than have him see me passed out on the ground. Again.

This went on for a few days before I could process it.

And right there, on the pier, the midnight of the last day of summer, I accepted it. The stars knew I accepted it. They almost seemed to twinkle brighter because they were proud of me for accepting it.

All of this? These stupid thoughts? And their occurring constantly?

Feelings. I had feelings for Sam.

Shit.


	17. Chapter 17

"Dear Rachael," the letter in my mailbox that morning read. "Tonight at around 10 o' clock PM, a rare and beautiful event will take place. The moonlight jellies will be passing by Pelican Town on their long journey south for the winter. We're all gathering at the beach to watch. You don't want to miss this!"

It was written to me by a man named Demetrius. But whoever it'd been written by, if this was such a "rare and beautiful" thing, they were right about one thing; I couldn't miss it. I'd already missed an earthquake; I didn't need to be missing anything else.

To my surprise, when I got to town, I saw that the bridge to the beach was blocked off with a rope. Huh, and I was thinking this was going to be a casual gathering; I guess I was in for a festival!

…What to do, though? I had another batch of sunflowers growing, and there wasn't much I could do there until they were ready to be harvested.

I facepalmed when I realized that, well, they _weren't_ going to be. Tomorrow was the first of fall. They were as good as dead.

With a sigh, I headed back toward home to dig those up so I wouldn't have to tomorrow.

Once that was done, the sun was still high up in the sky.

I looked around my farm for a while. What was I going to do with this place, anyway? Yeah, I had a little plot of land clear to grow crops, but… it was a bit overwhelming, just how much space I _actually_ had that was going to waste. I mean, what if my grandfather could see just how messed up and overgrown I was leaving this place?! He would have had a riot! Or even worse… he would probably have sighed and shook his head solemnly every time he looked at it. If he was watching overhead from somewhere, he was probably doing all that and then some. But I'd tried chopping stuff down! It all just came growing back! I couldn't get the whole plot covered in a day even if I started the moment I woke up.

…Maybe if I put down some paths or something, then put different crops in different sections… Yeah, I'd do that! I had that vision, and I liked it. I supposed I'd get to work on that tomorrow.

I could also imagine that after I'd finished this big project and given the farm this new look, Sam would come by and be absolutely floored.

Well, my thinking about Sam had started for the day, hadn't it?

Would he be at the beach tonight? I couldn't tell whether or not he was the type to take interest in things like rare events of nature. Well, I supposed I'd find out, because crush or no crush, I wasn't one to pass up a rare natural event.

So one of my first days here repeated itself, except I knew I had a limit, and a plan. Even without the physical limit, I was under an additional time limit; I wanted to get to the beach early, in case those "moonlight jellies" were scheduled to come by at _precisely_ 10.

By the time the sun went down, I had made some pretty damn good progress; there was a distinct section where the land was clear!

The time was now 9:30pm. Oof. That's when I'd wanted to _be_ there. Not much to do but to rush down there, I suppose.

I made it to the beach at precisely 10. And I was a little surprised at the excitement in the air. It seemed like _everyone_ from town was here (I saw Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail standing together on one part of the pier, the part Sebastian would stand on some days). The whole place was decorated, and it just felt like we were all waiting for something exciting.

Out of comfort, I immediately headed for my usual fishing spot, not to fish, but to observe, for once. I sat down, then noticed that Sam's mother was standing next to me. After a few seconds, she looked to her left and saw me there.

"Hello, Rachael!" she greeted me. "…I just realized… is this your first time seeing the moonlight jellies?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "To be honest, I'd never heard of these things until this morning."

"Oh, you are going to love them," she said. "They're absolutely beautiful."

I didn't know if they were going to be beautiful, but they _were_ going to be a unique sight. That much, I did know.

…Moonlight jellies… were these things, like, a glowing jellyfish of some sort? Were they going to fly in the air? Were they going to be in the water? Were people going to ride by on boats, where the jellies would be stuck like barnacles?

Should I go say hi to Sam? What were they all talking about over there?

Yeah. Sam looked like he was having the time of his life over there, with his two best friends…. Damn it, I'd thought we weren't doing this tonight, brain.

I had nothing else to do while waiting for the mysterious moonlight jellies to come by, so I plunged into the darkness that was my own mind.

And somehow, it told me that nobody would ever love me.

Look, I don't know. At least… I didn't. At the time, even, my logical mind knew there was no way to prove that statement. There was no way to prove that I wouldn't find true companionship someday. Yet somehow, some way, the hatred within my own mind was winning. Nobody would ever see anything special in me, the darkness was saying. There's nothing out there for me, it was saying.

I have nobody, it insisted. I could move all the way to a remote valley and still find _nothing_. Hell, I could mail-order a companion, and the company would shut down before shipping them to me. This was a matter of destiny, nothing else. If everyone deserved love… this was what it was like to be the exception.

You're probably sick of hearing me go on about that, so I'll stop. I think I got the point across.

I didn't even have that much time to think before everyone went quiet. The silence was loud enough, if that makes any sense, to pull me back to reality.

And as if to provide me an answer of some kind, the world sent these glowing jellyfish-like creatures our way. I couldn't find it in me to hate myself anymore when I was seeing _this_ for the first time. Most of them glowed a silvery glow, but I could have sworn one's glow was a bit greener. I think my focus was mostly on that one the whole time.

Once all the jellies had been in front of us for a moment or so, everyone else started conversing again. Most of this conversation was about the spectacle in front of us.

"IT'S THE RARE GREEN JELLY!" a kid's voice cried with happiness, from somewhere to my right.

As if he was the first to see it, gasps and remarks of complete awe quickly followed.

So this was the moonlight jelly. This was perhaps one of the greatest new things I'd ever learned.

I looked to see where the kid was.

I didn't find him… but I did see Sam coming around the corner of Willy's shop. Before my brain could even react, he was sitting directly to my left.

"Hey," I smiled. I knew my face was flushing and became more grateful than usual for the darkness.

"Hey," he replied. "Is this your first time seeing the moonlight jellies?"

"Yeah," I nodded, looking back out at them. "They're beautiful."

"They sure are, aren't they?" said Sam. "Do you think they're poisonous?"

"I dunno," I replied. "There are some deadly jellyfish out there. Are these things even jellyfish?"

"I'm not sure," said Sam.

I moved my eyeballs, not my head, to look at Sam for a moment.

I could have sworn he was looking at me. My heart did a sort of double-beat. Gee, if I didn't want to get my hopes up, that didn't help at all.

We both watched the jellies for a few more moments. For some reason, my mind went to the logistics. What was making these things glow? Was it a serum flowing through their veins, and their bodies were transparent? Maybe it was a harmless bacterium of some sort? Maybe it was even the work of electricity, which would make sense considering the jellyfish's electric stereotype.

Suddenly, I felt something nudge my left arm. I looked over to see that Sam had done the nudging, and he was now pointing over to my right.

I looked, initially confused. The only thing I could think of was that Sebastian and Abigail were sitting rather close to each other, to the point where one of them would only have to move one finger to touch the other's hand. Then I inferred that that was completely what Sam wanted me to see.

To confirm my inference, he whispered "Just kiss already."

I laughed quietly.

"If I may," I whispered back, looking at Sam. "How long have they been… so… shippable, for lack of a better term?"

"How long have they been an 'OTP'?" Sam responded, doing me one better. "As long as I can freakin' remember."

"I've had a gut feeling about two people liking each other before," I said. "I think I'm right again."

"Well, if you are right, could they just _get together already?!_ " asked Sam. "It's painful at this point."

"Yo, I know what you're talking about," I said with a bit of a laugh.

At this point, the jellies were starting to drift away from our neck of the ocean. People were even beginning to leave. I figured Sam would be one of them.

Not really. I waited until the jellies were just a glowing cluster way down the shoreline before I stood up, and my heart jolted again when I heard Sam stand up beside me.

"Hey…" he said. "Thanks… for the cue ball you gave me. I think I'm actually getting better!"

"You're absolutely welcome," I smiled, feeling all warm and fuzzy. "I'm not that great at billiards, either."

"Maybe I should take you on sometime," he said, rather confidently.

"Yeah, but be prepared to win," I laughed.

"Nah, it's you that should be prepared for that," he insisted.

"Just let me know," I said. "Yeah, I do stuff, but my schedule overall is pretty open. Come find me if you want to play!"

"Will do!" said Sam.

If nothing else, I had never seen anything like the spectacle of the moonlight jelly in my 20 years of life. That alone would have made it a good night regardless. Sam made it, like, thrice as awesome, though.


	18. Chapter 18

If I thought the transition between spring and summer was violent, I hadn't seen anything yet. Everything was darker, especially the leaves. One of my first thoughts as I'd gone to bed the previous night… one of the only ones that didn't involve Sam… was what sort of scenery I'd wake up to. And as drastic a change as it was, it was about what I expected.

When I went to Pierre's that day, I decided to glance at the calendar. For all I knew, the whole birthday thing was just because everyone seemed to know each other, and it was a thing. More than half the town had no idea who I was, so there was no way they'd-

Right near the 9, Fall 9, was my picture. Just as crystal clear as everyone else's. Well, that made me feel chipper.

Moments later, Pierre was ringing up the pumpkin seeds I was buying. I asked him if he knew anything about building outdoor paths.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you much myself," said Pierre. "If you want to know about building things, or having things built for you, you'll want to talk to Robin. You'll get to her place by climbing one of the staircases here and heading north."

"Alright, thank you!" I smiled, handing Pierre the money for the seeds. I then turned around and walked out.

"Pleasure doing business with you!" Pierre said from behind me.

I followed his instructions and came upon a huge house with a blue roof. Was that a telescope in the side yard? And was that a tent on a hill off to the right? It had what appeared to be a fire pit in front of it. I assumed Robin, and/or anyone else that lived here, liked to camp out sometimes. I looked around and decided that, with the mountains and the lake nearby, this would be a beautiful place to do so.

Just as I was preparing to walk up to the house, Robin walked out. I'd met her already because she and Mayor Lewis had greeted me when I first arrived here.

"Ah, hello, Rachael!" she said to me. "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping I could get some info on how to build outdoor paths," I replied.

"Well, come on in!" she said, motioning toward the door.

And so, I did. I immediately noticed that she had a desk with a cash register. She went behind it and bent down to pick something up from under it. She came back up with a binder, and she set it on the desk in front of me.

"Have a look," she told me. "Let me know if anything stands out to you."

And nothing did until the very end of the binder. The crystal path. It had the exact aesthetic I was imagining for the farm: bold, but not blindingly bold. I was also a fan of the stepping-stone structure, rather than it just being one solid path.

"I like this one," I told her, pointing to it.

"Alright!" Robin smiled. "I'll give you the recipe for 1,000 G."

I gave her the money, and she gave me the recipe on a piece of paper.

"Have you been adjusting well to moving here?" she asked.

"Yeah, actually," I replied. "I've made friends with at least a couple of people, and I've really taken up fishing, a lot more than I expected. I'm going to use these paths to give the farm a cleaner look, too."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Robin, with obvious relief. "Sometimes, I'd get worried that old place was going to crumble to the ground. Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you, okay?"

"Yeah!" I said, turning around to leave. "Have a good day!"

"You too!" I heard Robin say before I closed the door.

I got back to my farm and read that the sole ingredient for the crystal path was refined quartz.

…As in a straight mineral. A straight mineral, refined in some way.

I did NOT have it in me to go all the way back to Robin and ask her where I was supposed to get this stuff, so I called it quits for the day. I'd do it tomorrow.


	19. Chapter 19

I wouldn't do it tomorrow. I completely forgot, and instead ended up out on the pier again.

And in the end, I'm happy it ended up that way, even if Sam didn't come say hi. Basically, someone else did.

It was a rainy fall day, and I was fishing as per usual. I heard footsteps coming around the corner and felt my heart race.

I looked up with an excited smile, expecting to see Sam, of course. I'm hoping my face didn't fall too obviously when it ended up being Sebastian instead. I wasn't disappointed; my face dropped from excitement to pure surprise.

He simply stood there, holding his umbrella, looking out at the ocean. In fact, it almost seemed as if the only unusual thing was his location.

I tried to read his face. And I couldn't, really; I couldn't tell whether it was contemplative, melancholy… or whatever else.

It was _right_ when I decided to simply enjoy the company and fish as usual… when he spoke.

"You just moved in, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is my first year here," I replied.

"Out of all the places you could have moved into, you chose Pelican Town?" he then asked.

I didn't like the tone of his voice. It reeked "downer."

"Y-Yeah," I replied. "My grandfather owned the farmhouse and passed it on to me. I was in a _poor_ spot in my life, one I needed to escape. And I like it here. This is perhaps one of the best decisions I've ever made."

Yeah, so in your face, a little part of me wanted to add on.

"Alright," Sebastian shrugged.

He took out a cigarette. My stomach lurched just a bit; I thought I was done with secondhand smoke for good.

Soon enough, I caught a whiff of it. His cigarette somehow smelled more violent than my mother's.

So that's how that introduction went. I was at least happy to be on speaking terms with Sebastian… even if it was just because he seemed to be Sam's best friend.


	20. Chapter 20

The day after that, I actually remembered to go see Robin at her shop about this "refined quartz" stuff.

"Refined quartz is what happens when you heat quartz in a furnace for… what was it, an hour and a half?" she said. She then looked up at me, and I could tell she got some sort of dark realization. "You're going to need a boatload of it if you want any decently long paths."

"Where do I get quartz?" I asked.

"You can find it laying around in the mines," Robin answered. "If you go deep enough, level 80 or below, you can also find Fire Quartz, which will give you thrice as much refined quartz at a time."

I'd never considered mining before in my life, really. My whole life, that seemed like something people only did professionally.

"The mines are dangerous, though," Robin warned me. "There's all sorts of monsters down there. My husband does research on them all the time, and they are not to be messed with."

"So…" I replied, feeling my spirit fall. "The crystal paths I want are going to require me to bet my life?"

"I'm afraid so," Robin said solemnly.

She took a moment to think. I could tell she really wanted the best for me.

"If you really want to take the plunge, there's a place near the entrance that I think sells weapons," she then told me.

I'd regret it if I didn't at least see how difficult it would be, I decided. For all I knew, you'd only get hurt if you _let_ the creatures take a bite out of you.

"Alright," I smiled. "Thank you!"

I went to leave, then realized I forgot to ask another big question.

"Where are the mines, exactly?" was said question.

"There are some planks that'll get you to the other side of the river very near here," Robin replied. "You'll find a hole in the side of the mountain bordered with some wood. There'll also be a lantern."

"Cool!" I said.

"The place with the weapons I was talking about is just past that entrance," said Robin. "It looks like a green house."

"Thanks!" I said.

"Please be careful," Robin insisted.

"I'll do my best," I said with a bit of a laugh.

A few moments later found me entering said green house. There was a man behind a counter and another man sitting in a rocking chair. I wondered what kinds of lives these two led.

"Hm?" said the man behind the counter. "…I've gotten word about a new farmer in town! Would that be you?"

"Yeah, that's me," I replied.

"And you've come by because you want to start your journey down in the mines, right?" he then asked.

"I suppose I'm not the first?" I asked.

"One of the first," the man responded. "…One of the only ones… But never mind that."

The man reached below the counter he was standing at and came back up with a rusty sword.

"Here, take this," he said, holding it out. "This should help you start out in the sport of monster slaying."

I walked up and took it, then asked "What do you want for it?"

"Nothing, take it!" the man replied.

"Oh," I replied. "Thank you!"

A few moments after that saw me entering the mines. I had been underground before, but how cold it was always amazed me.

I first approached what appeared to be a minecart. When I couldn't find anything that appeared to control it, I followed its tracks until, very quickly, they led out of the mountain.

I then went back in and approached what appeared to be an elevator. When I pressed the button, however, it did nothing.

The only thing that appeared to be left was a ladder leading underground, so I took it.

I was interested to see that aside from the fact that this was even a large, spacious area… everything here looked so natural. There were rocks laying all around.

And wouldn't you know it, there was also something that I could guess to be quartz. I quickly rushed over and grabbed it… then pondered another question.

Robin had said there were at _least_ 80 levels to these mines. I couldn't see a ladder anywhere. How was one to proceed?

…Some of these rocks looked bigger than others. Maybe one of them was blocking the way downward.

Sure enough, after a quick scan, I noticed that one of the rocks was nestled in a hole or dip of some sort. Taking out my pickaxe and chopping said rock up, I revealed the way down and took it.

And I was almost immediately convinced that the first level was _meant_ to be the tutorial of levels. The next one was noticeably different; it was bigger, and there were actually what appeared to be these "monsters" everyone was mentioning.

More specifically, a bug thing flew back and forth. I readied my sword and approached it slowly... until I was fully convinced it was blind. I could have reached out and touched it with my own hand, and it still didn't see me. I'd still keep an eye out, but I decided to pass it and go on my way.

Truth be told, part of me was a little disappointed. That same part of me had always wanted to use an actual sword in real life.

Then, I felt a bit heavy, looked at my watch, and saw that it was midnight already. I didn't want to pass out _anywhere_ outside my bed, let alone somewhere where other species would take advantage of the chance to eat me whole, so I proudly left with my one bit of quartz… if that's even what it was.


	21. Chapter 21

"Happy birthday to me…" I sighed as I woke up on the 9th of Fall.

As someone so keen on optimism, it was hard to not expect anything. I had little daydreams of impossible things, like the town putting on a surprise party for me, or even Sam's family putting on a surprise party for me, or Sam even dropping by the pier to give me a gift.

I had to sit on the edge of my bed and try to get the message through to my brain that nothing was going to happen today. As much as it hurt, I had to tell myself that I was going to fish as per usual, nobody but Willy was going to say a word to me unless Sam decided to pop by to say hello, nobody was going to do anything else for me, I would come back here and end another simple day, and hoping for more was only going to hurt me.

…Hey, if nothing else, I had a _tremendously_ better life now. I had a fishing buddy and a whole plot of land to myself. I had freedom. And I'd gotten myself caught in a net of romance as well, which was just as thrilling as it was painful. I'd come out here and created an early birthday present for myself.

I walked out to find leaves dancing everywhere. It struck me as rather beautiful.

I wasn't expecting to get to the pier that day to find Willy holding a present, a cylinder wrapped in green. If it was possible for this man to look twice as smiley as usual, he was doing that. I almost didn't think this was happening.

"Happy birthday, Rachael!" he cheered as I approached.

"Thanks!" I replied, feeling halfway to tears.

He then handed me the present and told me to open it. I unwrapped what was probably the biggest container of bait I had ever seen.

"I won't have to buy any again for a while!" I smiled. "Thank you, Willy!"

"No problem!" he replied. "Had to do something for you on your special day!"

Well, even if nothing else did happen, my day was officially made by that statement alone.

Turns out, something else did happen.

To start, the sunset was absolutely beautiful. It was one of those that didn't necessarily make everything dark, but instead cast a golden hue on everything. I wondered what caused sunsets like this. I supposed that was nature's birthday gift to me, and I took it gladly.

I don't think I could have come up with a more visually beautiful time for Sam to come walking around the corner.

As if to blatantly contradict the self-brainwashing I'd tried to do that morning… at least some of it… there Sam freakin' was, with what appeared to be a rectangular box wrapped in birthday-themed paper. It was the kind with balloons and confetti.

"Hey!" I said, reeling my line in.

"Hiya!" Sam smiled, coming over and sitting down by me. "Happy birthday!"

"Heh, thanks," I blushed.

He as well gave me his present and told me to open it. I did so quickly, and I could feel myself tremoring nervously as I did so.

At first, it was a cardboard box, taped closed with packaging tape, and whatever was in it was really light. Without really thinking, I gave it a couple of little shakes. It made no sound. I then found where the tape ended and peeled it, then opened the box.

Sam had given me a dragon plushie. Its body was a deep purple, and it had yellow scales down its back, yellow eyes, and a pair of eyeglasses. Genius dragon.

"Aww!" I said, admittedly in a bit of a squeal, before hugging it tightly. "Thank you so much, Sam!" I was legitimately happy now. The dragon alone was enough to make me all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

"Of course," said Sam. "…Hey… would it be weird for me to say it… uh…"

I caught on to the fact that he was having trouble formulating a sentence, so I looked at him. I couldn't be sure because of how the sunset was making everything look, but I could have sworn Sam was blushing.

"Hm?" I said.

He sighed.

"Would it be weird if I said this dragon instantly reminded me of you?" he said, almost as if he was just trying to get the sentence out of his mouth.

A surge went through my gut, and my heartbeat was sped up now.

"A week or two ago, we had to go to the store to find stuff for a distant cousin's birthday," he said. "I saw this, and I just could not… I couldn't help but think about you… when I saw it. I bought it and figured I'd give it to you for your birthday, whenever that was."

I laughed, then said "That's really sweet."

"I'm glad you think that," Sam replied with a smile.

Something in my chest caught on fire when I looked him in the eyes this night. Can you tell if a stare is sincere, for lack of a better word? Because if so, Sam's look was the sincerest anyone had ever given me. It almost made me feel… secure.

Not to mention, his eyes in general were just freakin' _beautiful_. Then again, if you _like_ like someone, do their eyes just automatically become beautiful to you? I suddenly wondered this.

"This means a lot," I said. "Really, Sam, thank you so much for doing this. You really didn't have to."

"You kidding?" he replied. "Yeah, I did. You deserve it."

Without thinking, I laughed this really bashful laugh and looked away, down at the water.

"We still haven't had that billiards match," he thought aloud. "And I really think I'm getting better!"

"Like I said, just let me know!" I said.

"Mm hm," he said.

Then, there was a pause. I put my dragon in my bag, set the box and wrapping paper off to the side, and dropped my line into the water right in front of me.

"Have you had a good day?" asked Sam.

"This is the best birthday I've had in a few years," I said. "And… if I'm not going to sound too forward with this… you're partially responsible for that. So again, thank you."

It was his turn to give what sounded like a bashful laugh.

"Like I said, of course," he said. "What all did you get to do today?"

"Willy gave me a present, which was really nice of him," I said, patting the container of bait beside me. "Then, I fished all day. Then, you came along. And now, we're here, and the sun's going down."

"I see," said Sam. "Are you kinda low-key when it comes to your birthday?"

"I've kinda had to be," I shrugged, feeling a tug on my pole and beginning to reel it in. "I turned 20 under a table."

Sam laughed, as if that last statement caught him off guard, and said "Okay, I need to hear the story behind that one."

"Long story short, the last year I was at college, my housing situation was shit," I explained. "I slept under a table for about a couple of months. Put a 0/10 situation and 0 friends together, and you've got the perfect formula for turning 20 under a table."

"That sucks," Sam said sincerely. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's quite alright," I replied. "All that matters now is that I'm here, in a brighter future."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Sam.

Another pause. I dropped my line right in front of me again.

A few seconds went by, and I heard Sam sigh this horridly long and deep sigh. One I knew, at the very least, I would only give if something was really fucking me up.

One I remembered him sighing before.

I really looked at him this time. And he genuinely looked upset. His eyes wouldn't move from the water.

I was scared to prod, but if nothing else, I couldn't stand to see him like this.

"Hey…" I said. "Is everything okay?"

I so badly wanted to put my hand on his shoulder, but I didn't want to risk making him feel worse.

He only moved his eyes a bit to look at me.

"My…" he said. He sighed before continuing. "My dad's been in the army. Vincent keeps asking things, like when he'll come home. I keep telling him that Dad'll be back real soon. One time recently, Vincent even said he heard about our troops suffering real bad, and I just told him not to believe them."

He put his face in both of his hands.

"I don't know what to do," he said. "I feel horrible for getting his hopes up, but I…" He looked up and out at the ocean. "I don't want him to lose his hope, you know?"

"I get'cha," I said. "That's… that's gotta be rough. I'm sorry you guys are going through that."

It's not like tears were forming in my eyes, but they did feel a little wetter, and ached as if they _could_ have started leaking for real. There was a weight present in my heart.

"…What should I do?" asked Sam. "To me, you seem like someone who's incredibly sweet, but no-nonsense at the same time. What would you do?"

I sighed before giving my answer.

"As hard as it may be, I'm for telling the truth," I said. "Yeah, the truth hurts. If the truth is that you don't know, that uncertainty can hurt even more. But if you ask me, a lie would do more damage. A lie could get someone's hopes up, but does that mean anything if they're happy for no real reason… if that makes any sense? In addition, Vincent may be young… but he's human, too, with a human mind, just like yours and mine. Things heal and hurt him just like they do you and me. I think you would best show you care for him by telling him the truth. I mean, would you want to be lied to?"

"No, I wouldn't," said Sam. "I get what you're saying, but I also don't want to take Vincent's hope away from him. Yeah, he's human, but he's a child. He's in a phase of his life where he can be happy and blissful, where these real problems can't touch him, you know?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "…You know him better than I do, so it's your call. I can't force you to go one way or the other. This is merely the way I see it."

"Mm hm," Sam nodded.

Another pause, this one longer than the ones before it. I reeled in some seaweed, cast my line, and reeled in some more seaweed before he spoke again.

"I think you're right, though," he said. "Yeah, he's young, but… he's gotta learn about the world one way or another."

"Yeah," I agreed.

To myself, I feared the damage Sam may already have done. If he'd been telling Vincent that their father was going to come back soon, then switched to saying the honest "I don't know," Vincent's mind could potentially hop right to "You're saying that because Dad's dead." I couldn't imagine the damage that could potentially do to him, even throughout his life.

"They say our troops are falling by the thousands," said Sam. "Nobody… really knows if my old man's coming back."

All I could think to do was look at him. I didn't know what to say, or whether to say anything. I didn't know what to do, or whether to do anything.

"…I appreciate your being honest with me," he said.

"Of course," I replied. "Hey… I'm always here, okay? If you ever need anyone to talk to… if you ever just need company… hell, if you just need me to vacate the pier so you can have it to yourself for a while… just let me know."

"Thanks," said Sam, looking at me. "It means a lot…. Look at me. It's _your_ birthday, and I'm over here bringing the mood down."

"Don't even go there," I insisted. "I would much prefer for you to be honest about your feelings at _any_ given moment."

"I appreciate that," Sam smiled.

At this point, the moon was well into the sky. I was already feeling decently devoid of energy.

"I hate to have to go, but I'm afraid I'm gonna pass out on you if I stay here much longer," I said, putting away my fishing pole and bait and picking up the box and wrapping paper.

"Right," said Sam, surely but… almost a bit sadly. "I should probably get home before my mother starts worrying about me."

"Yeah," I nodded, standing up.

He stood up with me, and we walked away from the beach.

Right as we reached the point where we'd normally have to part ways… he asked "Can I walk with you?"

Another surge of something went through my body as I said "You can if you want."

"But do you want me to?" asked Sam. "That's what I'm asking."

"If that's all you want to know…" I said. "Yeah. I mean, I'd like it if you did, but you don't-"

"Then I will," said Sam.

And so, we both walked back toward the farm.

When my house was in sight, Sam's question came out of nowhere. He took a quick sigh before asking it, but that's all the warning I got.

"How about Saturday at 4 or so?" he asked.

"Huh?" I asked, not immediately processing what he'd said.

"That pool match we've been talking about," Sam elaborated. "You free Saturday? We could play some pool at the saloon then."

"I'm free every day," I replied, getting noticeably excited. "And yeah, that sounds great!"

"Saturday at 4, it is!" Sam smiled. He turned and started to walk away. "I'll… probably see you before then, but… I'll see you when I see you!"

"Yeah, see ya!" I waved.

We parted ways, and I went inside. I threw away the box and wrapping paper, then immediately proceeded to set my bag on the floor, take the dragon out, and cuddle with it in my bed. Even in my childhood-teddy-bear days, I hadn't cuddled a plushie so hard in my life.

After a minute or so, I looked down at it.

"What would be a good name for you?" I asked it. "…Not Sam, that's cheesy as hell, and a tad creepy. Something similar? Well… Sam said you remind him of me. My name… backwards? Leahcar… Lester? Lester. Lester the Dragon."

I fell asleep, with Lester wound tightly in my arms and a wonderful birthday in the books.

I also hoped Sam would be okay. He deserved to be okay, if not wonderful.


	22. Chapter 22

I left the beach around 3:30 that day and headed for the saloon. I figured I could beat Sam there.

As I walked in, I immediately found out I was wrong. There was Sam, sitting on the couch.

My heart sped up, and I took a breath to try to calm it down before walking over to him.

He saw me and said "Hey! You ready to win?"

"You're going to eat those words," I responded. "I'm gonna lose to you so hard the whole saloon's gonna die laughing."

Sam laughed before replying "I'm going to lose so hard I'm going to be mocked over the Internet."

"We'll see about that," I said.

I noticed that he'd already put the balls into a triangle. Said triangle was just _itching_ to be broken.

"Who should go first?" I asked.

"Ladies first," Sam responded.

"Oh, come on," I said. "…Alright. If you insist."

That was probably the most intense game of billiards I had ever played. I pulled far ahead for a while, but then, Sam caught up. He still had a bold ball on the table, while I was going for the 8-ball. He sunk that last bold ball, and right when I thought we were going to have an intense face-off, I sunk the 8-ball and won the game.

"That was probably the best game I've ever played," I said.

"I'm glad," said Sam. "Yeah, I think I've gotten better. In fact, if we play again, I'll probably win."

I looked at my watch and determined that we probably had just enough time for another game.

"Let's do it," I said, starting to gather the balls from the pockets.

"You're on," said Sam.

I know for a _fact_ he didn't intend it, but the way he said that was strikingly sexy.

Anyway, we played the next game. He'd only gotten one of his balls in a pocket when I sunk the 8-ball.

"…Okay…" said Sam.

I gave a triumphant "Hmph."

"So I need a bit more practice," said Sam. I wasn't exactly expecting him to have become a pro in the time I'd given him that training ball; it was the results of the first game that made this dramatic loss throw me off guard.

If he'd said he'd gotten better, though, I figured a pro status wasn't far off.


	23. Chapter 23

As the days got colder and the trees became barer, I got closer and closer to one of the worst days of my life.

Sam hadn't broken my heart. Nah, he was still coming by the beach and saying hello to me (I almost thought he was coming by more often these days), and my heart still beat new life into me each time. There wasn't anything to suggest he'd already gifted his heart to someone else, although it was still always possible.

Nobody had broken into the farmhouse, nor mugged me for my money or anything. In fact, I'd argue I was making more and more from the fish I was catching these days.

Stardew Valley was still the safe haven I'd hoped it to be.

The horror started with a call from my mother, at midnight, when I was returning home with a pack full of fish.

I answered it and said "Hello?"

I knew in the weight her voice had that there was something horribly wrong. I knew it from "Hi…" She also never called me. We always texted.

"Is… there something wrong?" I asked.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then said "Yeah. Joey…"

My heart dropped to the level of my stomach. Joey was my best friend for a long time. He was also one stallion of a tomcat; I was convinced that with some grooming, he could have starred in a movie.

"Joey got out of the house," said my mother. "He got in a fight with another cat and… got hurt really bad. I got him to the vet, but… it's not guaranteed he'll make it through the night, they said."

I could almost hear my heart fall out of me and hit the brick path I was standing on.

"O-Okay," I replied. "Should I… go over there?"

"You may want to," my mom answered.

"Alright," I said, starting to shake. "I'll be there ASAP."

…Wait, shit. I could have been over there for an indefinite amount of time.

I could put some food out for Laslow for the next day, but if it was going to take longer than that for Joey to either be okay or leave me…

If Joey was going to leave me, I wanted to be there to say my goodbyes, and thank him for everything. Slowly falling into a panic attack, I did all that I did next without really thinking.

I got a notebook and pencil out of my backpack, tore off a sheet, and wrote "Hi! It's me, Rachael… the new farmer. A family emergency has come up, and I need to leave immediately. I need someone to feed and check up on Laslow, my cat. I'll put enough food in his bowl to last him through tomorrow, maybe even the next day… but I don't know how long I'll be gone. I would really appreciate it if someone could keep an eye on my little buddy!"

I then dashed over to the bulletin area by Pierre's, found a tack, and put my note up.

Then, I ran home, burst my way into the house, and poured what was probably too much food into Laslow's bowl. I then ran right back out.

Soon enough, I found a bus, and was riding away from Stardew Valley.

* * *

 **Author's note: Hey, all, sorry for the hiatus! I literally just needed some time to figure out how I was going to go about these final chapters.**


	24. Chapter 24

If I thought the moments leading up to my leaving Stardew Valley were blurry, I wasn't prepared for how blurred the next few days would be.

It was all like one constant, low-grade panic attack. I felt this pain in my chest whenever my mother's cell phone rang, and my spirits dropped when it was just a family member and not the vet. At first, it was impossible to focus on literally anything else. Even when I got that focus back, not knowing whether or not Joey was going to come back to us ate away at me like you wouldn't believe. I looked forward to sleep more than I ever had before; it meant time would pass without me having to wait on it. More time for my little buddy's condition to improve.

Occasionally, all the little memories I'd accumulated with him came to mind, and I had to fight to keep myself together. Crying, no matter how relaxing it may be to other people, simply didn't work for me. It made my body hurt even more the last time I'd let it happen.

It felt like a year… but it was only a few days.

A few days before my mother finally spoke the words "Joey's doing better." The fog in my mind cleared immediately.

I hadn't exactly prepared myself for what he would look like when we went to pick him up. I felt my stomach lurch when I saw wounds all over him, open and stitched alike. Thoughts of "If I ever see the monster who did this, they'll catch hell" ran through my mind. Then, thoughts of "I'll probably never know" and "I'd get arrested if I did anything" ran through my mind.

Poor thing wasn't moving all that much, but the personality and vibrance was in his eyes. He also meowed when he saw us approaching, and it was the same old meow.

We were given prescriptions for some medications, and we left. Later that night, Joey was already moving a little more.

I knew then that I could head back to Stardew Valley with no worries. I went to find the next bus back there.

As the bus's doors opened and I went inside, I thought about Laslow again, and a bomb exploded in my mind, sending little thoughts zipping everywhere.

Had someone seen my notice and checked up on him? What if he was just on the ground dying? Was I a horrible pet owner for the way I had done this? I mean, when I got the call, I didn't think I could have waited for the morning to ask someone in person to feed Laslow.

My heart sped up even more when the bus reached Stardew Valley. While there were other people around me, I kept myself at a decent pace… but as soon as I stepped off the bus and a few steps away from it, I made a _mad_ dash for my house.

When I threw the door open, what I saw certainly wasn't what I was expecting to see.

Laslow was happy and healthy, which was good. There was a decent amount of food in his bowl, which either meant he wasn't eating much or someone had stepped up to the proverbial plate.

It was the latter. Sitting on the floor, scratching behind Laslow's ears and joining him in looking at me as if I was a ghost… was Sam.

When I'd opened the door, I was too panicked to think about closing it. When it clicked in my mind that everything was okay, I sheepishly turned around and closed it.

I then said "Hey," to Sam, who said "Hi," back.

When I turned back around, Laslow was sitting at my feet and looking up at me with a calmer expression. I fell to my knees and picked him up, then hugged him close to me.

One of Laslow's arms just so happened to be on either side of my neck. Nevertheless, he didn't move. I held him, and he simply sat in my embrace and purred. I could just barely see his eyes… and they were closed.

Just now, my constant panic was coming to an end. I didn't think I'd ever been so happy to hear and feel a cat's purr. I almost thought I could feel something like love coming from it.

I was getting ready to lean my head on him and hold him like that for a while, but I sort of re-realized that Sam was there, watching me sort of collapse. I looked straight at him.

"Thank you so, so much for taking care of Laslow," I said, almost half-ready to cry. "The situation I was put in couldn't have gotten any shittier, and… to be honest… I was afraid nobody would see my post on the wall."

"Don't mention it," said Sam. "…You've got a really sweet cat."

"He is a sweetie, isn't he?" I said.

He'd walked right over to me, even after having someone else feed him for the past few days.

Did... Did that mean I was special?

Did that mean… he _loved_ me?

Did a living being in this world, even if he wasn't human, _love me_?

The next thing I registered was that Sam had walked a bit closer to us. He was now standing by my bed.

"You don't mind if I sit on your bed, do you?" he asked.

"No, go ahead," I replied. I had to admit, having Sam around was also comforting me to a pretty big degree.

He sat and asked "Are you okay?"

"Heh, these past few days have been hell," I told him, hugging Laslow just a bit closer. "So… my cat back home, who I love _dearly_ , got in a fight with another cat and nearly got killed in the process."

"Oh, no," Sam reacted.

"He was just in…" I said, feeling myself choke up a little bit. "He was just teetering on this tightrope of life, for lack of a better way to put it, for too long. Thankfully, he's okay now, but…" I took a deep, shaky breath. "Then, even after that, I panicked because I was afraid Laslow wasn't being fed… Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for taking care of him."

"Again, don't mention it," said Sam.

"Sorry I'm such a mess," I said. "The panic's over now. I'm… just now coming down from it, for lack of a better way to put it."

"It's perfectly okay," said Sam, in perhaps the most comforting tone he'd ever put on. "…It's all over now, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "It's literally just a matter of my cat back home healing, my calming down, and everything going back to normal."

"That's good," said Sam.

"…I know you said not to mention it and all," I said. "But I have to ask…. Is there anything I can do to thank you? For taking care of Laslow and… just… being here, to be honest?"

He opened his mouth, as if to say no. He then closed it, though, and thought for a bit. The suspense was real.

"…Only if you're up for it," he eventually said.

"Shoot," I replied.

He didn't seem prepared for me to be willing to listen. His eyes widened for a second. He also took a deep breath.

"Alright," he eventually said.

He then opened his arms. Not all the way, but sort of like an upside-down, slightly-tilted V.

"Would it be okay if I hugged you?"

I was legit blindsided. I never exactly thought I'd make it this far. I mean, I suppose I'd told myself over and over that this wouldn't happen, and I wasn't even thinking about Sam (for once in my life) when it finally did happen.

No matter what I told myself, though… I'd be a damned fool not to take what was right in front of me.

"Yeah," I told Sam, putting Laslow down. "I'd… actually really like that." I felt my face go red as I said the second thing.

In one fell swoop, we got up, walked over to each other, and enveloped each other in a warm embrace. The last of my panic from the last few days evaporated into thin air, like rubbing alcohol under blistering sunlight. Speaking of blistering sunlight, I want to say I was right when I imagined Sam could give me a fever with the warmth of his hug. Every fiber of my being felt as if it had been placed on a heating pad. Every muscle in my body relaxed, and I couldn't imagine the amount of happy chemicals my brain was sending out. I felt like nothing was wrong in the world. I wanted to stay there forever, in something I'd been genuinely starved of. In fact, a few seconds into the hug, I held him a little tighter without really thinking.

Right as I realized what I'd done, I also realized that Sam had done the same thing. His grip seemed to be a bit tighter, too. Out of nowhere, I started wondering whether by some chance, he needed this just as much as I did. It'd make complete sense, with him going through everything he was with his father, and potentially all sorts of other battles either related or not.

So maybe seven or so seconds later, when he let go, I let go as well (even if it made me a bit sad to do so) and assured him of something.

"Hey," I said. "I know I've said this before, but… if you ever need someone to give you a hug, give you a second opinion, to listen to you, or even just to be there… come find me. That is, if you want. I just don't ever want you to feel like you're alone at a time where you don't want to be alone."

In response to this, he sort of looked at me for a second, then pulled me into another hug. This one felt a little more desperate. When I wrapped my arms around him again, I gave his back a little rub.

"Thank you," he said.

"Not a problem," I replied.

A few seconds later, we separated again.

"I should probably get going," he said.

I was about to be sad about that, but only then did I take notice of how tired I was. In fact, I felt myself declining way too quickly, probably due both to the time and the panic I'd just gotten over.

"Alright," I nodded. "Take care!"

"You too!" he said, walking to the door.

We gave each other a wave before he walked out and closed the door behind him.

I crawled into bed. Laslow immediately hopped up beside me and curled up. My mind returned to those questions from before.

Sam had been the one feeding him for days on end, but _I_ was the one his attention was on when I returned.

…Almost made me wonder if… even if Sam really was just being nice for all this time… and nobody else in this town, or this world, saw me as anything special… Laslow did.

Even if I had nothing else, I had that.

Oftentimes, though, these positive mindsets only lasted a bit before the self-hatred shoved them out of the way and reigned supreme once again. Only time would tell if this one would hold up.


	25. Chapter 25

It held up.

Since then, every time Sam came by and said hello (which was damn near every day now), we shared a brief hug before he left.

When the first day of winter rolled around, I wasn't sure what to expect it to look like outside. If I could wake up one day and have the leaves be an entirely different color, then wake up one day 28 days later and have the leaves be… another entirely different color, I was sure I was going to be floored by whatever I saw.

And I was. Where I was raised, it snowed a lot in the cold months, so I wasn't so much surprised by the amount of snow on the ground. Rather, I was nearly blinded by how purely white it was. I'd been nearly blinded by sunlight reflecting off snow before, but this was an entirely new _level_. I covered my eyes and, for a second, was concerned that I wouldn't be able to see even after I uncovered them. Fortunately, my eyes were okay.

I then noticed, and was surprised by, how quickly the trees had gotten completely bare. There was still a good amount of leaves on them the previous day, and it was like something in the night had taken a vacuum to every tree across the land.

Anyway, that day, I went and fished as per usual, but as I approached the bridge to the beach, a kid's voice called out to me.

"Hey, Rachael!" it called.

I stopped in my tracks (nearly losing my balance, actually, due to some ice that was under the snow) and turned around to see three people looking at me. One was a little boy, who I now knew to be Vincent, a little girl in a purple dress with a beautiful bow in her hair (I'd only seen her at the Egg Festival and on the calendar), and a woman in a yellow blouse with vibrant orange hair. That in itself got my attention for a brief moment; did she dye it?

I then realized I'd heard this kid's voice somewhere before: the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. So _he_ was the one who'd made everyone aware of the rare green jelly.

Vincent then yelled "My brother thinks you're cute!"

The woman that was with the two children sort of scolded him, but I just had to laugh. It was both an "A child's innocence has warmed my heart" laugh and a "Hah, you're really funny" laugh. My heart was beating faster too, but that's not important.

"I'm really sorry about that," the woman said to me.

"It's okay," I assured her.

She then led the children away, over toward the museum. I headed toward the beach to fish, and think about that.

Something was different, though.

Whenever anything regarding Sam and/or whether I had a chance with him happened, I usually spent too much time feeling my mind go haywire with "There's no way I have a chance with him" and "He's just being nice", and by extension, "Everyone around you is just being nice and nobody will ever genuinely love you." It was the way my brain worked; it was a defense mechanism taken too far by some overly chaotic force.

There was none of that today. Instead, there was only "That made me feel nice, whether it was true or whether it was the work of a mischievous child." If it was the former, well, awesome! Despite everything, I couldn't deny I was falling for the dude with the yellow hair. If it was the latter, it was amusing. I could only imagine how Sam would have reacted had he heard Vincent tell me that. Maybe Vincent would have a snowball sent his way. Maybe Sam would become a blushing, stuttering mess, only proving Vincent's point. Maybe Sam would sternly deny it, disproving Vincent's point. Maybe Sam would hide, and pretend he hadn't heard anything. Oh, the possibilities!

A week after that, I decided to drop by the Festival of Ice. The day before, I'd heard about the ice fishing competition from both a letter in the mail and Willy, who'd asked "You're entering the ice fishing competition tomorrow, right?" as if he was going to be disappointed if I hadn't.

I got there, and the first thing I noticed were the little pools of water in an even bigger patch of ice. I also noticed that the river nearby, in addition to another lake, hadn't frozen at all.

I walked up to the pools of water, which were probably for the fishing competition, and studied them, trying to figure out the science behind why _this_ area was frozen and the rest of the water wasn't. Soon, though, Mayor Lewis approached me.

"Hello, Rachael!" he said. "Are you entering the ice fishing contest?"

"Sure am!" I replied.

"Wonderful!" Mayor Lewis smiled. "We'll be beginning shortly, so don't go too far away!"

"Got'cha!" I smiled and nodded.

Mayor Lewis then went to talk to other people who were standing close to the contest area. I looked around. I first spotted Sam talking to his mother and Vincent, then looked some more and saw Sebastian and Abigail talking.

At one point, the chatter quieted down just enough so that I could hear Sebastian say something to Abigail.

That something sounded like "…wants her to sing for the band sometimes, for some reason." I couldn't be sure, though.

Normally, that would have weighed on my mind like a broken cinder brick, with all sorts of jagged edges poking into my brain. Now, though, it was just a side note. I didn't obsess over it. I simply wondered about it, and only until Mayor Lewis called out to everyone that the competition was about to start.

I saw one of the little lakes and felt lucky about it, so I dashed over to it as to claim it for myself. Within a couple of minutes, the prince-looking dude, Willy, and a woman I'd spoken to once before chose their own lakes in the area. As Mayor Lewis was giving a speech to kick things off, I looked around.

Eventually, my eyes landed on Sam, who was standing beside Sebastian. Without really thinking, I smiled, blushed, and looked away when I noticed that he was looking directly at me.

It was nice. It was a big deal… but not in a life-or-death kinda way anymore.

I felt nothing but confidence as the contest began, and I dropped my line into my lake.

I couldn't keep decent track of how I was doing, but I did notice that exactly after I reeled in my 6th fish, the crowd went wild. I could even make out Sam's cheers over the noise.

Soon enough, a whistle was blown, and the contest was over.

In the moments leading up to the announcement of the winner, and I didn't know why at the time, everyone's faces were filled with suspense.

I started to piece together why when, after I was announced to be the winner, everyone cheered wildly again. When Mayor Lewis turned to me with something that appeared to be a treasure chest, I walked up to him and took it.

"This is the first time someone has beat Willy in years," Mayor Lewis told me, clearly in awe. "Truly a wonderful job."

"Thanks," I said, taking the chest.

This just felt surreal. As everyone went back to their business, I spent a solid few seconds pinching myself, plugging my nose and trying to breathe through it, and looking around to make sure I wasn't about to wake up from some weird dream. I mean… this was my first ever attempt at this contest. Yeah, I'd been fishing for a while… but a while as in a few seasons. I'd just succeeded in defeating a man who'd been doing it for _years_ … right? No way.

Right as I was about to slap myself in the face again for good measure, I heard Willy tell me "You can quit hurtin' yourself, Rachael. You've really done it."

I turned to my right to face Willy, who I was afraid was about to cry. He had his right hand extended, and I reached out and shook it.

"I'm proud," he smiled. "You've really excelled in the art of fishing. I'm so happy to see it."

"…Willy…" I smiled back. "You encouraged me to start fishing. I could never thank you enough for that."

"Keep up the great work," said Willy.

"Thank you," I smiled. He walked off.

Then, there was Sam. He was standing in front of me in so little time that I was half convinced he was waiting his turn.

"I knew you could do it!" he told me, holding up his hand. We then shared a high-five.

"Did you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did," Sam nodded. "I mean… you've been fishing every day for how long now? I was going to be surprised if you didn't at least get second place."

"I appreciate your confidence in me," I blushed.

Later on, I was back home. I was in bed, and Laslow had decided to plop down on my feet. I was a little annoyed because my ankles were starting to get uncomfortably warm.

Not only was I too tired to care, though… but he deserved to sleep wherever he wanted, at least for tonight.

Even if the guy I liked was just being kind and didn't mean anything else by it… I could come home to Laslow.

Even if nobody ever talked to me again… yeah, that would suck, but I could come home to Laslow.

No matter what I looked like, or what I did (to a certain degree), Laslow would always be there to curl up either on or beside me and purr like a motor. He was a car part in feline form, I swear to (insert higher power here).

Knowing that, I could have a crush on someone without feeling like dying due to the mere chance of him not feeling the same way. Yeah, I'd be sad if I found that out, but sad in the way one would feel after accidentally letting a plant die, not in the way one would feel if they were locked in some kind of cage and left all alone.

Knowing that Laslow loved me… I never had to doubt that there was love in my life again.

And that security felt pretty damn good.

* * *

 **Author's note: If you're reading this, thank you. While this was mostly to practice my writing and help me through something going on in my mind, it's also fantastic that there are other eyes on it. It feels good knowing that someone saw what I've put out and thought it was interesting to spend their valuable time reading. I may add to this, but it's not certain. If I do, maybe I'll see you again. If not, thank you for joining me on this journey.**


	26. Chapter 26

My next issue was that of what Pierre liked. Because in Stardew Valley, what was elsewhere just a fun holiday game was a whole-city tradition.

All I knew was that he was the cashier at the general store where I got all my seeds. Was he a farmer, too? Did he like farming tools and seeds and stuff?

If anyone other than him was ever the cashier at that place… how shitty would it be if I just bought some fertilizer or something and gave that to him? His own stock?

I was slipping my coat on a few days before the big event as I thought about how shitty yet simultaneously funny that would be, so I'm pretty sure Laslow just saw me laugh at nothing.

That day consisted of me fishing, as usual. But you ever have what doesn't really feel like a revelation, but really is when you get down to it? A real stretch of an idea, but at least it's something? No?

Well, I did, right as I was about to make my first cast of the day. Maybe Pierre would like a gem of some sort. Oh, wait, yeah! If he didn't like it, he could always sell it! Gems went for good money!

I reeled in some seaweed, put my pole away, and headed for the mines.

When I got down there, down to the point where those bug creatures were minding their own business, it dawned on me how… empowering it felt. All by myself, breaking rocks and slaying my enemies… even just having a sword in my hand for a good reason… it made me feel good. Like I had a good place in this world.

That feeling of power jumped ship as soon as I felt pain course through my left leg. I winced and looked down to see a gelatinous blob biting at it.

One swing of my sword was enough to dislodge the creature from my leg, and a few more made the poor oblivious thing explode into nothing more than a film of slime.

I stood for a moment, temporarily going through the paranoia of whether that thing had injected me with a venom of some kind. The pain in my leg was going away, rather quickly as well, but… Ah, I just had to be more careful, I eventually decided.

I saw exactly what I was looking for before I even got off the ladder on the next level. One of the stones had a beautiful purple mineral protruding from all over.

I went over to it and picked away at the stone. Ended up, I could only get one solid chunk of the purple mineral out of it.

Still, though, it was a beautiful specimen. I almost wondered if I could find some more and DIY it into jewelry somehow. Never really saw myself as an entrepreneur, but that would certainly be a hell of a backstory for one.

On Winter 25, I walked into town with the amethyst, which was within a nice gift box, which was within some nice Winter Star wrapping paper (I was going back into the city a lot more than I thought I would… which was not at all, I suppose).

I was initially confused. How did gift-giving happen? Would Mayor Lewis call everyone together, would we put our gifts in a pile and open them, and would we try to guess who gave our gifts to us? That's the way this was done back where I was raised.

I'd learn in what shouldn't have been a less-than-pleasant way… if that makes any sense. It may in a moment.

I looked over and saw that everyone seemed to be seated with their families, at big tables. This included Sam, who was seated with his mother and little brother.

Someone was speaking with Sam, though. It was the same orange-haired girl that had the kids in tow last I saw her.

She was giving a gift to Sam. And she seemed a lot less composed this time, if the flushing of her face was any indication.

"It's you this year?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it's me," Penny replied, her voice trembling just that tiny bit. Enough for me to notice, but not for Sam to, apparently.

Sam opened his gift, which appeared to be a box of guitar picks. A good-quality box, too; the lettering on the box was shiny, as were the picks themselves.

"I lose these things all the time!" said Sam. "Thank you so much, Penny!"

It _was_ Penny, then! Sam had mentioned her as the tutor of the kids, and she was the one who'd had them with her when Vincent joked with me. Honestly, I… should have made the connection _way_ sooner.

"You're w-welcome!" she replied to Sam.

Feeling a sudden surge of pain in my stomach, I made myself think about other things.

Like if any of this food was mine, and if there was anywhere for me to sit. I then looked around and saw that many people, including Mayor Lewis, were standing on the sidelines. That was probably the best place for me to go now.

Before that, though, I knew how the gift-giving process worked now. I took a breath and approached Pierre, who was sitting with Abigail and a green-haired lady. Right before I spoke, his mouth was full of food.

"H-Hello," I said to him. I held out my gift. "Sorry to bother you, but… I've got your gift this year, I suppose."

Pierre swallowed his food, looked up at me, and replied "Ah, so it's you! Thank you!"

He took the gift and opened it, which only took a few seconds but felt like a few minutes. He took the gem I'd found out of the box and held it up to examine it. It almost felt like I'd brought it in to be appraised rather than to be gifted. Also, was I really that insecure, or had the gem lost some of its vibrant purple color since I'd wrapped it?

Also… was it just me, or did Abigail seem extremely fixated on it?

"Ah, it's an amethyst!" Pierre exclaimed. "Thank you!"

"Of course!" I replied.

I took a few steps away, closer to the tree. I then made sure I was facing completely away from Pierre, took a huge breath in, and let that breath out, perhaps a bit more dramatically than I'd anticipated.

Without really thinking, I next turned to the tree, put my hands on my hips, and looked up at it. I let my mind wander, and it primarily reflected on what was coming up on my first year here, in this new town.

More specifically, I went back to a question I'd pondered before: Where would I be if I'd stood just one millimeter to the left, spoken a little louder, spoken a little softer, or decided to speak to certain people at certain points in time? _Would_ I be a yakuza? That sounded kinda cool, but probably just because the media made it seem cool. More realistically, I suppose, would I be standing on the _other_ side of this tree? Would Pierre's hair be blue? Would Sam never have said a word to me? Would _Sam_ and Abigail be into each other, _Sebastian_ being the one to-

"H-hey," Sebastian said from behind me.

Seemed like it was just as I was going over that last hypothetical, too. I hadn't exactly been expecting to hear that voice speaking to me, like, ever again, so I whipped around a bit too quickly. Took me seeing Sebastian's face to even register completely that it had been him, honestly. He didn't exactly look _happy_ to be speaking to me, although that wasn't too much of a shock.

He was also holding a small box.

"It's, um, me," he said, holding out the box. "Here."

I took the box, a bit slowly, mostly out of surprise.

"Thanks," I smiled.

The box wasn't wrapped. Rather, it was a simple, light blue gift box with snowflakes, with a white bow. All I had to do was unravel the bow and lift the top.

I'm surprised my jaw didn't fall to the floor. It was a golden chain bracelet, with an emerald-encrusted moon as its sole charm.

Sebastian took a half-step closer to me and lowered his voice.

"Don't tell anyone," he said. "But my mom was actually the one that found that. I just… agreed you'd like it, I guess." He shrugged as he said that last part.

"Fair enough," I shrugged back. "Well, thank you guys so much! This is freakin' beautiful!"

In truth, the only jewelry I ever wanted to wear were rings on my left ring finger, the first presented by someone knelt to one knee, and the next in front of an altar. Still, I loved that charm. I wondered if there was a way I could attach it to Laslow's collar. If the chain wasn't so long, I'd just attach the entire bracelet.

"You're welcome," Sebastian said before walking away.

Hm. I don't think I'd ever been so interested to constantly be reminded that someone wasn't much for conversation.

When I closed the box and looked back up, I thought I caught Sam looking at me. Weird how your own brain can fuck with you.

* * *

 **Author's note: WHAT'S UP, FUCKERS?!... *ahem* Er, I'm back! I've gone and picked up Stardew Valley again after learning two months** _ **after**_ **the fact that it got a decent update. And despite the fact I perfectly could have left this where it ended, I got a slew of ideas for scenes I want to write. So we're back!**


	27. Chapter 27

"What is love?"

'Twas the first day of spring, and I'd gone for a fish. Sam decided to sit beside me and ask _that_ shit.

I opened my mouth to make the "Baby, don't hurt me" joke, but just one look at Sam's face told me he was serious. As in I don't think I'd ever seen him this serious before.

Was… Was he okay?

"Love?" I asked. "Like… in general?"

"Yeah," said Sam.

"…A…" I answered. "A feeling of… happiness toward someone. Love is feeling happy and/or excited due to someone's existence. Getting happy just thinking about how perfect they are. I-I mean, it's a wide spectrum, but… happiness caused by another person. That's the gist of it."

"I definitely get there's family love and friend love and all that," said Sam. "…I'm talking straight-up romance, though."

"Uh…" I answered, caught off-guard. "…Melting in their embrace… wanting to be near them at all times… can't help thinking about how perfect they are and getting all dreamy and over-the-moon… Even that's a wide spectrum."

… _Why was he asking me all this?_

"…Yeah," Sam nodded, looking out at the water. "Yeah, you're probably right."

As I felt a tug on my pole, I looked at him for a bit. He still looked pretty serious.

He sighed.

"I ask…" he told me. "…I ask because I want to get the ball rolling with Sebastian and Abigail."

I reeled in some seaweed. I also felt a bit of an adrenaline crash.

"Really?" I asked. "That bad, huh?"

"That bad," said Sam. "It's _so_ obvious they're in love! They just don't want to say anything!"

"Okay, okay…" I said, casting again. "…What were you thinking of… doing?"

"I dunno," said Sam. "I'm a bit upset I missed the opportunity to dangle a mistletoe over them."

"Now, I see what you're going for," I interjected. "You have to be really careful, though. This is going to sound so damn sappy, but it's true: love is something that, in order to thrive, has to happen on its own. You can't force it."

"It's not forcing," Sam argued. "It's… encouraging. I want to _encourage_ them to realize what's blossomed between them."

"Still," I said. "If they realize someone's trying to make it happen, they could be discouraged from acting on it. It could feel sour, like someone thinks it's all a game."

"You're talking like I'm just going to walk up to them and try to push their heads together," Sam said, sounding a tad offended. "No. As much as I want to sometimes, I know that's not cool."

"You're right, you're right," I said quickly. "…I'm sorry. I just… wanted to make sure you… knew what was at stake, for lack of a better way to explain it."

"Don't worry about it," Sam said, more calmly. "You're right. We can't be reckless."

I nodded and gave an "Mhm."

"I more wanna… set the scene," said Sam. "Set everything up around those two and let it do its work, you know?"

"Right, right," I nodded.

Something tugged at my pole, and I reeled it in, trying to come up with any ideas.

"Have those two ever played pool against each other?" I asked, reeling in an anchovy.

"…You know, I'm not sure!" Sam answered with a bit of enthusiasm. "I've sometimes been sick and couldn't go hang out with them at the saloon, so maybe they have!"

He snapped his fingers, as if he'd gotten an idea.

"I've got an idea!" he said. "I'm going to get those two to play a game together!"

"Love it," I nodded and smiled, also giving him a thumbs-up.

"Thanks for the inspiration!" said Sam.

"Don't mention it," I smiled. "…This is going to be interesting."

I had a feeling that this would, indeed, be interesting.


End file.
